As weeks go, this has been a blinder. It’s bewildering, honestly; you slog away for years then, all of a sudden, loads of things happen at once. Monday, we started filming Mr Burton – and the rushes are gorgeous: we’ve been so blessed with the actors, the crew, the whole lot. Then Thursday, Sarn Helen wins the Wales Book of the Year. That’s something I never dared to imagine – especially after 2008, which made the prize feel like it was cursed for me. (Details in Sarn Helen, if you don’t know what I’m on about.) Most important is the way that the message of Sarn Helen has been received: everything about climate and ecology. I’m cautious about the word optimism; it strikes me as a counterpart of anxiety – something diffuse, unmoored from the facts. But given that the change we need to make is, at root, a cultural change, a change in our mode of being, that the cultural establishment in Wales should be so willing to embrace this book – this is a cause for hope for me. It feels that way for now at least, and I’ll take that.
Thanks so much to the judges (and to all the incredibly kind people who have written in the past few days).
