Andrew M. Green MCLIP, FLSW is a published author. From 1998 to 2013, he was the Librarian of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, a position which was inaugurated on 1 January 1909, when the Library came into existence. [1] Green was the 9th holder of the position.
Green previously worked in university libraries, including the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1973–74), University College Cardiff (1975–89) and the University of Sheffield (1989–92). Upon leaving the University of Sheffield, he became the Director of Library and Information Services at the University of Wales, Swansea (1992–98).
Green was born and raised in England. Consequently, he is not a native Welsh speaker. However, he is fluent in the language. At the 2009 National Eisteddfod, the Gorsedd of Bards honoured him with bestowal of the white bardic robes of a druid. His bardic name is Gwallter bach ("Little Walter"). [2]
In 2005, Green criticised the Welsh Tourist Board for the way it advertised Wales, using old-fashioned and stereotypical concepts of the country. He suggested that Wales could benefit from attracting genealogy tourists to use the materials available at the National Library, in the same way as Ireland successfully attracts expatriates from the United States to visit the country and research their origins. [3]
Green belongs to multiple scholarly organizations, including the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) (Chair 2002–2004), the Legal Deposit Advisory Panel, the Legal Deposit Libraries Committee, the Research Information Network Funders' Group, the CyMAL Advisory Council, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Wales (President), the Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum (WHELF) (Chair), and the Welsh Committee of the British Council. He was a member of the steering bodies of the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) and the Research Support Libraries Group (RSLG).
In 2013, Green was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. [4]
Between 2014 and 2017, Green was Chair of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, [5] an organisation that aims to establish the future sustainability of the Welsh language within academia. [6]
Llandysul [ɬandɨsɨːl], also spelt Llandyssul, is a town and community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. As a community it consists of the townships of Capel Dewi, Horeb, Pontsian, Pren-gwyn, Tregroes, Rhydowen and the town of Llandysul itself. Llandysul lies in south Ceredigion in the valley of the River Teifi and is visited for its fishing and canoeing. The community had a population of 2732, as of 2011. The village itself has a population of 1484.
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors typically number 6,000 or more, and overall attendance generally exceeds 100,000 visitors, the highest recently being 186,000 attending the 2024 festival in Pontypridd. The 2018 Eisteddfod was held in Cardiff Bay with a fence-free 'Maes'. In 2020, the event was held virtually under the name AmGen; events were held over a one-week period.
Penparcau is a village and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, situated to the south of Aberystwyth.
David James Jones, commonly known by his bardic name Gwenallt, was a Welsh poet, critic, and scholar, and one of the most important figures of 20th-century Welsh-language literature. He created his bardic name by transposing Alltwen, the name of the village across the river from his birthplace.
Meredydd Evans, known colloquially as Merêd, was a collector, editor, historian and performer of folk music of Wales. A major figure in Welsh media for over half a century, Evans has been described as influencing "almost every sphere of Welsh cultural life, from folk music and philosophy to broadcasting and language politics".
Thomas Evan Nicholas, who used the bardic name Niclas y Glais, was a Welsh language poet, preacher, radical, and champion of the disadvantaged of society.
Gwenllian Lansdown Davies is a former Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, a former County Councillor for Riverside, and Chief Executive of Plaid Cymru between 2007 and 2011. She is currently the Chief Executive of Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin.
Meic Stephens, FLSW was a Welsh literary editor, journalist, translator, and poet.
Welsh-language literature has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. The earliest Welsh literature was poetry, which was extremely intricate in form from its earliest known examples, a tradition sustained today. Poetry was followed by the first British prose literature in the 11th century. Welsh-language literature has repeatedly played a major part in the self-assertion of Wales and its people. It continues to be held in the highest regard, as evidenced by the size and enthusiasm of the audiences attending the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales, probably the largest amateur arts festival in Europe, which crowns the literary prize winners in a dignified ceremony.
Brynley Francis Roberts, known as Bryn Roberts, was a Welsh scholar and critic, who wrote significantly on the Welsh language and Celtic history. He was Professor of Welsh Language and Literature at the University of Wales, Swansea 1978–1985 and Librarian of the National Library of Wales in 1985–1994, then made editor of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography in 1987 and of Y Traethodydd in 1999. He was on the council of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and involved in the Morfa Chapel, Aberystwyth, part of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. In 2011, he was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Aled Gruffydd Jones FRHistS FRSiaticS FLSW is a Welsh historian and academic. He was Librarian of the National Library of Wales between 2013 and 2015.
Professor David Gwyn Williams, usually known simply as Gwyn Williams was a Welsh poet, novelist, translator and academic.
The Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, known in both Welsh and English simply as Coleg, was established in 2011 by the Welsh Government to work with universities in Wales to develop Welsh-language courses and resources for students; it also provides and advances Welsh medium courses, scholarship and research in Welsh universities. Although headquartered in Carmarthen, the Coleg does not have its own campus, but works through a number of branches across universities in Wales. It is a recognised charity. The aim of the branches is to support the Coleg's work and act as a point of contact for students. The Chief Executive is Dr Ioan Matthews and the chair is Andrew Green.
Dafydd Trystan Davies is a Welsh academic and politician, who was chair of Plaid Cymru from 2013 until 2019, when he was replaced by Alun Ffred Jones. Trystan is currently the Senior Academic Manager and Registrar for Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
Mary Lloyd Jones FLSW is a Welsh painter and printmaker based in Aberystwyth. Her works are multilayered and use devices that reflect an interest in the beginnings of language, including early man-made marks and the ogham and bardic alphabets. She has exhibited across Wales and internationally.
Ned Thomas FLSW is a Welsh intellectual, editor and cultural commentator in the fields of politics, literature and language. His earlier works are in English while his more recent output is in Welsh. He writes from a background of familiarity with languages such as Russian, German, French, Italian and Spanish, as well as Welsh and English. He was a lecturer at the Universities of Moscow, Salamanca and Aberystwyth in the Department of English and has published studies of writers as diverse as the English writer George Orwell, the Caribbean poet Derek Walcott and the Welsh poet and activist Waldo Williams as well as a study of post-war Europe from an autobiographical perspective.
Dafydd Llywelyn is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician. Since May 2016, he has served as the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner.
The College of Librarianship Wales was a monotechnic college specializing in library and information science in Aberystwyth, Wales, between its foundation in 1964 and August 1989, when it was merged with University College of Wales to become the Department of Information & Library Studies of that institution. During its twenty-five years of independent existence the college grew to be the largest library school in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. It also gained an international reputation for library education,
Rhiannon Ifans, FLSW is a Welsh academic specialising in English, Medieval and Welsh literature. She was an Anthony Dyson Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, in University of Wales Trinity St. David. She twice won a Tir na-n-Og prize for her work and won the literary medal competition at the Welsh Eisteddfod, for her 2019 debut novel, Ingrid, which was chosen for the Welsh Literature Exchange Bookshelf. In 2020, Ifans was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Howard Williams FLSW is a Welsh political philosopher and Honorary Distinguished Professor at Cardiff University. He is known for his works on German philosophy.