Crime Cymru was established with three specific aims:
- To support crime writers with a real and present relationship with Wales
- To help in the development of new Welsh writing talent
- To promote Wales, Welsh culture and the arts and Welsh crime writing in particular, to the wider world
For the first three years of its existence, the collective concentrated on the first of those aims but in 2020, the membership decided to buck the prevailing gloom and move to fulfil the second and third by establishing our Crime Cymru First Novel Competition and holding a biennial international crime fiction festival which will make its physical home in Aberystwyth.
But we don’t want Gŵyl CRIME CYMRU Festival to be just another crime fiction festival. We want it to be unique, recognisably different and authentically Welsh. And, above all, we want it to be attractive both to authors and the reading and watching public. Our aim is simple – we want people to think ‘That could only have been in Aberystwyth, it was so memorable and different.’
OUR VISION IS:
- To establish a world-class, biennial international literary festival for Wales in Aberystwyth and online in alternate years.
- To benefit Aberystwyth and the surrounding area and introduce Wales and Welsh culture to festival goers from all over the UK and the wider world.
- To further the three founding aims of the Crime Cymru collective.
Everything we do in planning for and running Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival is underpinned by four founding values:
- Inclusivity
- Collaboration
- Sustainability
- Authenticity
Our values are reflected in our choice of Aberystwyth as our venue, a choice which has been enthusiastically celebrated by the town council and the public bodies who are partnering with us to make Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival possible.