Poetry Wales Press, which includes Seren Books and Poetry Wales magazine, has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the US-based Hawthornden Foundation. We are one of only two UK-based publishers to be approached by the foundation for this round of funding.
The award has been allocated in recognition of our reputation for serving underserved literary communities in a part of the world deemed to have “weak or non-existent literary infrastructures”.
The funding will go towards organisational overheads at a moment when the company – along with the rest of the sector in Wales – faces unprecedented financial pressure. Some spend will also go towards projects which support our growth, such as professional training for staff, workshops for magazine subscribers and a Cymraeg Editor and proof-reader for Poetry Wales magazine, to be implemented in 2026.
The Hawthornden Foundation is a private charity supporting contemporary writers and the literary arts. Established by Drue Heinz, the noted philanthropist and patron of the arts, the Foundation runs an international residency program, conferences and literary retreats. It also sponsors the annual Hawthornden Prize, one of Britain’s oldest and foremost literary awards, which was won by Emyr Humphreys in 1958 for his novel A Toy Epic, later republished within the Seren Classics series.
Bronwen Price, CEO of Poetry Wales Press, said:
“We are delighted to receive this incredibly generous grant, especially given all the work we have put in to creating a future for the company over the past few difficult years. This support will make the world of difference to us. It reinforces that we’re on the right track and will ensure we are in the best possible position to continue offering innovative, equitable and engaged publishing from and for Wales and the world.”
Zoë Brigley, editor of Poetry Wales added:
“That the Hawthornden Foundation chose Poetry Wales for one these grants is hugely encouraging to us. One of my main goals on becoming editor was to make the magazine a welcoming space for everyone, a place where Welsh writers and international poets could know that their work would be read carefully and respectfully, offering a large variety of voices from around the world. This grant will be such a huge help in our missions, as we seek to foster new writing by emerging and established poets from all kinds of backgrounds.”
Named Welsh Small Press of the Year 2025, Seren Books is Wales’ leading independent English-language publisher, specialising in non-fiction, fiction and poetry. Celebrating its sixtieth anniversary in 2025, Poetry Wales publishes internationally respected contemporary poetry, features and reviews. Together they have built a reputation for publishing award-winning writers and poets, including Forward and Costa Book award-winners. Their strategic objectives are to increase the vibrancy, relevance and reach of Welsh literature, to increase the breadth and range of creative voices and readers in Wales, and to increase the sustainability, resilience and long-termism of publishing in Wales.