Some of the best young Welsh writers will be performing their work in Washington DC 18-24 March 2009 as part of a week-long celebration of contemporary Welsh literature in the US capital.

Wales Meets Washington is part of the wider Wales Smithsonian Cymru 2009 programme of activities and events, which includes Wales as a guest nation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in June 2009.

As a taster to the festival, Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors, with support from the Welsh Assembly Government, has organised a series of literary activities around Washington DC.

Tom Anderson, Catrin Dafydd, Fflur Dafydd, Eurig Salisbury and Owen Sheers will perform and discuss their work. Venues include Busboys and Poets at the heart of the U St.Corridor, Marymount University Campus Café and The Writers’ Center in Bethesda. They will also lead workshops and discuss their work with students at George Washington University, American University and the British School of Washington. They will combine poetry, prose and music and there will also be an opportunity to hear some of the work read in Welsh as well as English.

Academi Chief Executive Peter Finch says: “The links between Wales and the U.S. have a long history. Academi is delighted to have a role in creating new connections today. Following in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas, five young Welsh writers will cross the Atlantic for a week of workshops, readings, exchange and debate.  What better time to glance at the state of these two nations and their literatures. The inheritors of Dylan Thomas have a lot to live up to but, being Welsh, they’ll do it with ease.”

www.academi.org/washington-meets-wales/

For further details, contact Academi on:

(00 44) 29 2047 2266    post@academi.org

Academi, Chief Executive: Peter Finch, Mount Stuart Square, Mount Stuart Street, Cardiff CF10 5FQ, Wales, UK