Bilingual anthology by deaf and disabled writers shortlisted for book awards

Wales-based publisher Lucent Dreaming has announced their anthology of work by deaf and disabled Welsh writers has been shortlisted for The British Book Awards.

‘Beyond / Tu Hwnt’ was pitched, curated, and edited by Bethany Handley (award-winning writer, poet and disability activist), Megan Angharad Hunter (winner of the 2021 Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year Award) and Sioned Erin Hughes (coordinator for Welsh poetry press Barddas, author, and editor of groundbreaking ‘Byw yn fy Nghroen’).

The anthology includes work from new, emerging and established writers, including:

• Iestyn Tyne
• Joshua Jones
• Kaite O’Reilly
• Jamie Woods,
• Zoë Brigley
• Rachel Carney
• Sara Louise Wheeler
• Ed Garland
• Diffwys Criafol
• Maggie Hampton
• Paul Bennett-Davies
• Caitlin Tina Jones
• Leigh Manley
• J. Beli Friel
• Greg Glover
• Siân Eleri Roberts
• Lucy Aur
• Dee Montague
• Sofia Brizio
• Matthew Haigh
• Sam Skelton (posthumously)
• Leni Frank
• Guievere Clark
• Katherine Williams
• F. F. Elliott
• Lee Green
• Rebecca Wilson
• Katie Bennett-Davies
• Fran Kirchholtes

On the announcement of the shortlist, the editors said: “We couldn’t be prouder of ‘Beyond / Tu Hwnt’ and all its contributors for being shortlisted in the British Book Awards.

“When we first proposed the anthology, we felt our experiences were largely absent from literature and that opportunities for Deaf and Disabled writers were limited.

“A collection celebrating the work of Deaf and Disabled writers feels groundbreaking at a time when the value of Disabled lives is being questioned.

“It has been a joy to see emerging writers published or reading their work publicly for the first time, and who are now continuing to have their voices heard.

“The book is also a celebration of community and joy. We believe it may be the first shortlisted title in the awards to feature the Welsh language. Welsh Deaf and Disabled writers deserve to be recognised far beyond the borders of Cymru. This is a moment of pride for Deaf and Disabled communities and for Welsh writing as a whole.

“In the introduction to the book we further learn that Beyond/Tu Hwnt is a communities-uniting collection of contemporary Welsh Deaf and Disabled voices.

“By celebrating the diversity and uniqueness of our voices, we aim to fill the void where our stories and experiences always should have existed. Our aim in bringing our poetry, non-fiction and fiction together is to show that our work exists in all its power beyond the barriers and that it always has existed here in Wales.

“A collection of work by by Deaf and Disabled writers shouldn’t be radical, yet it is. […] At the heart of this anthology is pride in our identities and the belief that we are not disabled by our impairments but by the barriers created by an audist and ableist world.”