Management Board
Cathryn Charnell-White
Chair
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Cathryn Charnell-White
Chair
Dr Cathryn Charnell-White is Head of Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University. Her research focuses on Welsh identity, women and poetry in Early Modern Wales. She was the departmental Equality and Diversity Champion (2018–20) and sat on the central committee for equality and diversity. She is an advocate for ensuring that students see themselves reflected in the curriculum and has developed a new module in partnership with the Department of Theatre Film and Television called ‘Testunau’r Enfys’ (Rainbow Texts), which will be the first LGBT+ module of its kind in a Welsh Department. Cathryn was elected as a Literature Wales Board Member in November 2019.
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John O'Shea
Deputy Chair
John O’Shea studied politics at Swansea University and worked in a variety of educational settings. His most recent appointment is Principal of the College Merthyr Tydfil. John brings experience in Board and Charity governance, as well enthusiasm for enabling all of the people of Wales, no matter what their background, education or outlook, to prosper and develop their creativity – especially through participation in literature in all its forms. John is a past Chair of Grow Enterprise Wales, a Member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Chapter, and has a passion for overcoming deprivation.
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Craig Austin
Trustee
Craig Austin is a London-based writer and arts critic and a long-standing associate editor of Wales Arts Review, for whom he continues to be a senior contributor. He is also a highly experienced HR professional with a functional specialism in employee relations and employment law which has been gained across a range of major companies and sectors. Aside from the arts, Craig pursues a passion for modernist and post-war architecture, the latter having been influenced at an early age by his brutalist concrete hometown of Cwmbran.
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Casi Dylan
Trustee
Casi Dylan grew up in Ceredigion and now lives and works in Glasgow. She has extensive experience in areas that intersect literature, well-being, and social participation, including positions with The Reader Organisation and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She now works as an Events and Engagement Manager at the University of Glasgow. She is a Wales Literature Exchange Associate, and writes regularly for the book magazine O'r Pedwar Gwynt.
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Jacob Dafydd Ellis
Trustee
Jacob Dafydd Ellis is a Lead Change Maker at the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales with responsibilities for public affairs and international work. He advises national and international organisations on sustainability including the Football Association of Wales and the Museums Association. Jacob is also the Trustee at Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. He is a former BBC Cymru Wales journalist. Jacob has served as Chair of the Trustee Board at Aberystwyth University Students’ Union, Cardiff Third Sector Council and Scouts Cymru.
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Delyth Roberts
Trustee
Originally from Rhoslan in Eifionydd, Delyth Roberts has recently retired from her role as General Education Program Area Manager with responsibility for A Level at Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, Llandrillo Menai Group. She taught A Level Welsh on site in Pwllheli since 1997, and before then in secondary schools in Gwynedd. She has been a peer assessor for ESTYN and is a Senior A Level Welsh Examiner for WJEC. She is the Chair for the Park-Jones trust and is interested in the world of literature, music and drama.
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Rachel Harries
Trustee
Rachel Harries has many years' experience of working in governance in the public sector and currently works for Audit Wales. She also feels strongly about the importance of ensuring voices from all backgrounds are represented in the arts, particularly literature.
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Owain Taylor-Shaw
Trustee
Owain Taylor-Shaw was raised on the Llŷn Peninsula before moving to Cardiff to study Business Management at Cardiff University. He co-founded the magazine publishing company Conroy Media Ltd shortly after graduating, where he launched lifestyle publication RedHanded Magazine. He has since gained a broad experience of the arts, culture, media and third sector. He works at Wales Millennium Centre where he heads-up the Business Development department – leading on strategic partnerships, growing commercial income, commercialising IP and new product development.
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Christina Thatcher
Trustee
Christina Thatcher is a writer and a lecturer at Cardiff University. Her current research explores how creative writing can impact the lives of people bereaved by addiction. Christina is also a Poetry Editor for The Cardiff Review and a freelance workshop facilitator. Her poetry and short stories have featured in over 40 publications including The London Magazine, Planet Magazine and The Interpreter’s House. Her first collection, More than you were, was shortlisted in Bare Fiction's Debut Poetry Collection Competition in 2015 and published by Parthian Books in 2017.
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Steve Dimmick
Trustee
Steve Dimmick is a Blaina boy. His love of words came from his father, who formed the Poems and Pints community in Blaenau Gwent. Steve runs the CardiffRead book club, the city’s longest running gathering of spine breakers. In this capacity he’s welcomed the likes of Manon Steffan Ros, Chris Power, Owen Sheers, Belinda Bauer, Lemn Sissay and many more through the doors of Canton Library. Day to day, he’s Dad to three children, and sits as a Parent Governor for Ysgol Plasmawr. Steve is also a trustee with National Theatre Wales.
A lover of languages, Steve was a Welsh Learner of the Year finalist in 2018. As Commercial Director for Awen Cultural Trust, Steve’s remit is to Make People’s Lives Better; something he hops to achieve as a Trustee with Literature Wales.
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Owen Hathway
Trustee
Born and raised in the Rhondda, Owen studied International Politics at Aberystwyth University before moving into a career in various policy and communications roles spanning 20 years. Currently Owen is the Assistant Director for Insight, Policy, Public Affairs and Community Investments at Sport Wales. In this role he oversees the organisations’ research work, relationship with the Welsh Government and other key stakeholders, as well as having responsibility for distributing Welsh Government and Lottery funding to clubs and community groups in every corner of Wales. Prior to joining the organisation, Owen led the communications work for Plaid Cymru at Senedd Cymru and developed a passion for the role of culture in education and engaging young people, stemming from his time leading the policy, public relations and public affairs work in Wales for the UK’s largest teaching union.
Owen Co-Chairs the strategic management board of the Welsh Institute of Physical Activity, Health and Sport and is a Board Member at both Amgueddfa Cymru and the Geraint Thomas Cycling Trust.
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Richard King
Trustee
Richard King was born into a bilingual family in South Wales and for the last twenty years has lived in the rural county of Powys, in mid-Wales. He is the author of Original Rockers (2015), which was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, and How Soon Is Now? (2012), which was Sunday Times Music Book of the Year, both published by Faber. The Lark Ascending was published in 2019, and was a Rough Trade, Mojo and Evening Standard Book of the Year. His latest book, Brittle With Relics, was published in hardback by Faber in February 2022 and paperback in 2023.
Before his career as an author, King worked in the independent music business, co-founding the record label Planet Records in Bristol at the age of twenty-two. The label’s roster was drawn from the city's underground music culture, releasing music by Movietone, Third Eye Foundation, Crescent, and Flying Saucer Attack, along with occasional American bands including Yo La Tengo and Harry Pussy. In 1996, King established a working relationship with Domino Records in London, an association that continued, with various degrees of formality, for over fifteen years.
King has also regularly worked as a curator, programming and producing events at the Barbican Centre, London, the Cultural Olympiad, London 2012, the Hay Festival, Green Man Festival, where he curated the Babbling Tongues stage for five years and the International Festival of Apathy, Bristol. King was an honorary founding partner of the Do Lectures.
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