Over 150 learners will come together to discuss the 'Amdani' book series on Wednesday 6 March 2024, accompanied by some of the series' authors including Mared Lewis and Pegi Talfryn.
The book club will be held as part of the Amdani Festival of Reading, the virtual festival for Welsh learners organised by the National Centre for Learning Welsh. The festival was established in 2021 following the success of the book series for learners, 'Amdani', and this year it will be held between 4-8 March.
This is the first time the festival will host a book club, and the response has been fantastic. Pegi Talfryn, author of 'Y Llyfr,' one of the Foundation level books in the series, is looking forward to the evening.
Reading a book in a new language always gives learners great pleasure, and certainly gives them a confidence boost. But having the opportunity to discuss the book with others, turns the language into a living language. I look forward to hearing what learners have to say about the novel.
A range of activities will be held virtually throughout the week including a writing workshop with author and well-known presenter, Anni Llŷn. The aim of the session is to inspire learners to write a song, and sing the song at the end of the workshop.
In addition, the National Centre will publish interviews with authors, and announce the winners of the Amdani Festival book review competition. All the reviews will also be published on the Books Council of Wales website - gwales.com.
We're very excited to host the book club, and hope the session will encourage our learners to give some of the other books in the series a go. It'll be a great way to celebrate the success of the ‘Amdani’ series, which has been so popular with our learners over the past few years. I would like to thank the authors for joining us, as well as Lingo360 and the Books Council of Wales for supporting the festival once again this year.
Helen Prosser, Director of Teaching and Learning at the National Centre for Learning Welsh