This week, we celebrate the 60th birthday of the Books Council of Wales. It is remarkable how a small, fragile body that was set up in 1961 has developed into a powerful organisation with broad-ranging responsibilities for publishing in both Welsh and English. Because of its wide range of responsibilities, there is no other body like it in the other countries of the UK. It promotes reading, it supports authors, and it is responsible for maintaining and developing the publishing industry.

It also distributes grants to publishers, ensuring a diverse range of high-quality books and magazines. Its distribution centre supplies books on a daily basis to booksellers, and the use of gwales.com means that it can reach readers and book buyers all over the world.

The 60-year history is chronicled in two newly published volumes: O Hedyn i Ddalen, and Two Rivers from a Common Spring.

The organisation has always been led robustly, and further stability came when the National Assembly, in its first term, made the far-reaching decision to directly fund the books council and replace a funding regime that was rigid and complex.

Aberystwyth is the home of the books council, but its influence and value can be felt between the covers held by children and people across Wales, as they learn and wonder while reading books about Wales and from Wales, in both Welsh and English. Without the guidance and activity of the books council over a period of 60 years, our nation's literary heritage would be much, much poorer.