Poetry Wales

a magazine of poetry and criticism founded in 1965 by Meic Stephens, who wished to strengthen the cultural identity of the English-speaking Welsh and to provide a forum for the publication and critical evaluation of Anglo-Welsh poetry; the Anglo-Welsh Review was already in existence, but was felt by Stephens and others of nationalist sympathies to be insufficiently Welsh in character. Stephens was editor from 1965 to 1967 and from 1969 to 1973. Raymond Garlick, Vernon Watkins, John Tripp, Leslie Norris, John Ormond, and Anthony Conran were among the poets whose work recurrently appeared in early issues. Under J. P. Ward's editorship between 1975 and 1980 Poetry Wales began publishing contributions from poets working outside Wales, who included C. H. Sisson, Roy Fisher, and Seamus Heaney. More recently, the magazine has displayed an active interest in writing from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and Sweden, in addition to the regular inclusion of poems from other parts of Britain. Among the authors to whom special issues have been devoted are David Jones, R. S. Thomas, Henry Vaughan, and Alun Lewis. Mike Jenkins became editor in 1986, since when Poetry Wales has appeared in a larger format and remained hospitable to a wide range of contributors. Poetry Wales Press, latterly Seren Books, was established in 1980; the many poets whose collections it has published include Tony Curtis, Jean Earle, Robert Minhinnick, and Sheenagh Pugh.