Wales Book of the Year 2022 Judges

Matt Brown

Matt is an author and a broadcaster who lives with his family in Buckinghamshire. He has presented on some of the UKs most popular TV shows like Nickelodeon, The Big Breakfast and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! He also hosts a weekend show on Virgin Radio Chilled. Matt has written seven books for kids, which have been variously described as ‘funny’, ‘weird’, and ‘books’. Most recently, he has written and edited The Mab, a retelling of the Mabinogi in both Welsh and English for children.

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Taylor Edmonds

Taylor Edmonds is a poet, writer and creative facilitator from Barry. She is currently Poet in Residence for the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. She is a recipient of a 2020 Rising Star Award from Literature Wales & Firefly Press. Taylor is also a team member of Where I’m Coming From, a community-focused platform for underrepresented writers in Wales.

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Krystal Lowe

Krystal S. Lowe is a Bermuda-born, Wales-based poet, short story and screenwriter whose work explores themes of intersectional identity, mental health and well-being, and empowerment. Recent works include: ‘Whimsy’ commissioned by Articulture Wales; ‘Rewild’ commissioned by Green Man Trust; ‘Daughters of the Sea’ commissioned by Ffilm Cymru, BBC Arts, BBC Cymru, and Arts Council Wales; ‘Somehow’ commissioned by Music Theatre Wales; and ‘Complexity of Skin’ commissioned by the Space for BBC’s Culture in Quarantine.

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Andy Welch

Andy Welch is a Welsh journalist and broadcaster, now residing in London. He works for the Guardian, where he is an editor on ‘The long read’. He has produced podcasts, worked for NME and BBC 6 Music, and taught cultural theory at numerous universities. He recently contributed an essay to Welsh (Plural): Essays on the future of Wales, about learning to love the accent he grew up with during his childhood in Rhyl.

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Welsh-language Panel

Gwion Hallam

Gwion is originally from Ammanford, but he now lives in Y Felinheli with his wife Leri and their four sons. His day job is producing television programs with Ffilmiau Twm Twm. Gwion has written prose and poetry books for children and young people and his novel Creadyn won the Tir na n-Og award in 2006. His latest publication is Adnabod, which is his first novel for adults. In 2017, he won the crown at the National Eisteddfod in Anglesey.

Mirain Iwerydd

Originally from Pembrokeshire, Mirain is the host of The Sunday Morning Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Cymru 2. She can be seen in many HANSH videos, has appeared in S4C Stwnsh Sadwrn’s ‘Ymbarel’. Mirain is also part of the current phone crew on Stwnsh Sadwrn every week, and in 2018, she was awarded national best public speaker in an under-16s National Federation of Young Farmers public speaking competition.

Melanie Owen

Melanie is a presenter, podcaster, and columnist with a focus on current affairs and cultural commentary. Recently appointed as the newest member of the Ffermio presenting team on S4C, Melanie is also a news columnist on magazine show Prynhawn Da and regularly reviews the Saturday morning papers for Radio Cymru. Melanie produces content for online platform HANSH exploring various elements of being mixed-race and Welsh as well as contributing to a weekly podcast Mel, Mal, Jal. As an avid writer, Melanie pens opinion pieces for various platforms. She is the founder and director of the online blogging network House 21 and is currently writing her first book.

Siwan Rosser

Siwan Rosser, originally from Flintshire, is a senior lecturer and deputy head at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University. Her research there focuses on Welsh literature for children and has generated a new understanding and discussion about the significance and role of literature for young readers. Her volume on nineteenth-century children’s literature and the concept of childhood, Darllen y Dychymyg, was awarded the Sir Ellis-Griffith Memorial Prize by the University of Wales and was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year Award 2021.

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