Group of people standing in front of open doors
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s Language Committee visit Canada House, London   ©

Canadian High Commission / Paul Glen  

A group of Inuit from the Canadian Arctic are travelling to Wales to learn how Welsh is promoted and how it has flourished as a living language. 

The delegation of 17 members of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s Language Committee in the Arctic will be meeting First Minister Carwyn Jones, Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws and HRH The Prince of Wales. The group will travel across Wales (from December 13 to 16) to meet with groups involved in promoting the Welsh language. They will visit Bangor University, the Welsh Books Council, National Library of Wales and WJEC (Welsh Joint Education Committee).

The committee is currently engaged in an historic process to create one standard written form of the Inuktitut language. There are around 60 aboriginal languages in Canada, all of which are in decline and the group are keen to learn from Wales’ success in protecting the Welsh language.

As part of a partnership between the British Council, Prince’s Charities Canada and the Canadian High Commission, Welsh author and academic Alys Conran will accompany the group to document their time in Wales. You can read her Blog about the visit on Wales Arts Review.

About Alys Conran

Alys Conran is the author of 'Pigeon' (Parthian Books, 2016). Her short fiction has been placed in the Bristol Short Story Prize and the Manchester Fiction Prize. She completed her MA Creative Writing at Manchester, graduating with distinction, and is currently, with the support of a scholarship, working on a second novel about the legacy of the Raj in contemporary British life. She has read her fiction and poetry at The Hay Festival and on Radio Four and her work is to be found in magazines including Stand and The Manchester Review, and also in anthologies by The Bristol Review of Books, Parthian, The Camden Trust and Honno. She also publishes poetry, creative non-fiction, creative essays and literary translations. Originally from north Wales, she spent several years in Edinburgh and Barcelona before returning to the area to live and write. She speaks fluent Spanish and Catalan as well as Welsh and English. She has also trained and practiced in youth and community work, and has developed projects to increase access to creative writing and reading. She is now lecturer in creative writing at Bangor University. Find out more
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