After a six year campaign, Wales has appointed Gwyneth Lewis as its first National Poet thanks to a National Lottery grant from The Arts Council of Wales. Lewis, author of the world’s biggest poem (the Wales Millennium Centre bi-lingual inscription), NESTA fellow (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), author of six books of poems in two languages, a Book of the Year winner, librettist, sailor, and probably Wales’ best known poet since R S Thomas will be inaugurated at a special event at the Hay Literature Festival on May 30th 2005. The appointment is for one year with an option to renew for a second and will be administered by Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society of Writers. Lewis was the unanimous choice for National Poet made by a group advising the Academi at a meeting in Cardiff recently. Members of this group include the National Eisteddfod, the National Library, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Culture committee, the Arts Council of Wales, Yr Gymdeithas Gerdd Dafod, Ty Newydd, the Dylan Thomas Centre, the University of Glamorgan and the Association for the Study of Welsh Writing in English. The National Poet will be the first post which will serve Wales on a national basis and do this through both languages. The National Poet will act as a cultural ambassador for Wales – marking and celebrating Welsh life through verse. Unlike England’s Poet Laureate, Wales’s National Poet will not be required to write verse for specific formal occasions but will, instead, follow her inspiration. Lewis has already written a poem on Wales’ Grand Slam Victory and an elegy for Gwynfor Evans. Lewis said: "It's a huge privilege to be representing poetry in Wales, where we have a poetic tradition stretching back to the sixth century and fully present in the twenty-first." Academi Chief Executive Peter Finch, who has long campaigned for the creation of a National Poet said: “I am delighted that poetry in Wales at last has a national champion. Gwyneth Lewis is the perfect choice.” For further information, CLICK HERE