New York shortlist tonight for RNIB Cymru Transcription Team
“All you can do in this life is follow your dreams. Otherwise you're just wasting your time,” is a quote from David Walliams’ popular ‘Gangsta Granny’ children’s book, and following their own dream to New York is the RNIB Cymru Transcription Team.
The prestigious New York Festival’s World’s Best Radio Programmes awards ceremony is being held this evening, 19 June, at the salubrious Manhattan Penthouse, New York, and amongst the entries from over 30 countries the Welsh language narration of David Walliams’ ‘Cyfrinach Nana Crwca’ (Gangsta Granny) has reached the final shortlist in the category of Best Narration – Solo.
This is the first time for a Welsh language audio book to have been recognised at the Festival, following on from successes for English language RNIB talking books in the last two years.
Narrated by actress and ex-Ysgol Glan Taf pupil Hanna Jarman from Cardiff, the recording is exclusively available to RNIB members and has been one of the charity’s most listened to Welsh language recordings of the past year.
Emma Jones, Transcription Manager RNIB Cymru said:
“We were invited to submit an entry, so I set about listening to several of our Welsh language talking books in order to choose the one which I thought was the best, which was David Walliams’ Cyfrinach Nana Crwca.
“Talking books like this are vitally important. They ensure that children with sight loss are able to read contemporary books like every other child, and this year we will be producing around 30 Welsh audio books for our Talking Books library, including other books by David Walliams.
“We’d like to thank the publishers Atebol (Welsh) and Harper & Collins, and the Welsh Books Council for their support, and of course to David Walliams himself for writing the book in the first place!
“Reaching the final shortlist is really exciting for us and we have high expectations for the result in New York on Monday.”
“Mae cyrraedd y rhestr fer yn rhywbeth cyffrous iawn inni ac yn codi’n gobeithion am y canlyniad draw yn Efrog Newydd nos Lun.”
Narrator Hanna Jarman added:
“It was fantastic to be given the opportunity and invited to read Cyfrinach Nana Crwca. It was great fun and I’m so pleased that it has been short-listed.
“My sister Mared has sight loss herself and I’m grateful to her for introducing me to the world of talking books, so this is really something I wanted to do for her.”
The RNIB Talking Book Service in the UK lends over 1 million titles per year to its membership of blind and partially sighted readers. In addition to the 25,000 plus English language recordings held within its library, it has an ever growing collection of Welsh language recordings.
RNIB Studio Manager Daryl Chapman added:
“Nearly a fifth of the population of Wales identify as Welsh speakers and there are 106,980 people living with sight loss in Wales.
“RNIB has made a commitment that we will prioritise the delivery and promotion of the Welsh language. Not only is it underpinned by legislation, we believe being able to use Welsh is a right.
“With 'Cyfrinach Nana Crwca', Hanna Jarman delights us with a brilliant, amusing and delightfully engaging reading of the Welsh language adaptation of David Walliams 'Gangsta Granny'.
“I really hope the audio book does well this evening.”
Glyn Saunders-Jones, Managing Director of Atebol, is extremely pleased that RNIB Cymru have been shortlisted for this award. Their free online library contains over 25,000 talking books for the blind and partially sighted and this nomination underlines the importance of their work:
“This is fantastic news. Our adaptation was created by the talented Gruffudd Antur and is a tribute to his talent as an author who appeals to young readers.
“The RNIB’s audio version has allowed this adaptation to reach new and important audiences, and underlines the importance of their work. We’re excited that Wales and the world can enjoy the adventures of Nana Crwca!”
Stories can open up magical new worlds, allowing the reader to escape to far-away lands and meet colourful and exciting new characters… But unfortunately, for blind and partially sighted people, getting hold of the books they love or need for work or education can be really hard.
At the moment, only seven per cent of books are available in formats that all blind and partially sighted people can read. For over 80 years, RNIB’s Talking Books service has helped create a lifeline to the outside world for blind and partially sighted people in the UK.
It costs £1500 to sponsor a child's talking book and £2500 to sponsor an adult's talking book. To find out more about sponsoring a talking book contact Carol McKinlay carol.mckinlay@rnib.org.uk call 02920 828 590 or visit www.rnib.org.uk/sponsortalkingbooks
