Siop Lyfrau'r Hen Bost — the Old Post Office Bookshop — in Llanrwst stocks the best range of Welsh-language books in the Eryri region: novels, poetry, children's books, history, and Welsh-language editions of English classics. To browse its shelves is to understand the scale and vitality of Welsh-language publishing, which produces several hundred new titles annually for a reading public of approximately 600,000 Welsh speakers. This is Experience #74 of the Snowdonia 100.
Welsh-Language Publishing
Welsh is unusual among minority languages in having a substantial and active publishing industry, supported by the Welsh Books Council (Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru), which provides grants to publishers and manages distribution. The annual output of Welsh-language books — fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's, academic — is proportionally higher per speaker than many larger European languages. The quality ranges from popular novels to serious literary fiction; the industry has produced internationally recognised writers including Caradog Prichard and Robin Llywelyn.
| Siop Lyfrau'r Hen Bost | Llanrwst town centre |
| Awen Meirion | Welsh books and gifts, Dolgellau |
| Palas Print | Welsh and English books, Caernarfon |
| Gwales.com | Online Welsh Books Council shop — full catalogue |
What to Buy
For visitors new to Welsh literature, a good starting point is a bilingual volume — many Welsh poets publish with Welsh and English text on facing pages. Alternatively, the children's section provides accessible Welsh texts with vocabulary well within the range of a learner. The Welsh Books Council's recommendations list (available at the shop) identifies the year's best Welsh-language titles across all genres.
Experience #74 of 100 — Language and Culture category.
Independently written — Snowdon.com