Memoir of a Magazine #4: Regrets
Gary Raymond answers the questions from Wales Arts Review writers and readers.
Gary Raymond co-founded Wales Arts Review in 2012. It was born out of a conversation in a pub during half-time of a football match that was on the tele. Twelve years later, Wales Arts Review is read all around the world by hundreds of thousands of people. It has published the finest writers and artists of several generations that Wales has produced, and on a stunning range of topics. Over the next few weeks, this series will aim to explore and celebrate the life of the magazine.
If you missed the full introduction to this series, you can find it here.
Do you have any regrets?
A popular question, and an easy one to answer. No; I have no regrets.
There I things I would have liked to have ended up differently, but that would have meant doing things differently and WAR being something different or even something lesser, and I wouldn’t change that. So, no regrets, although many disappointments. I make no excuses for the way I ran the magazine, although no doubt somebody else could have done it better.
I’ll give some examples in the spirit of honesty and reflection.
Many personal relationship have suffered, and perhaps they have all been because I have valued WAR above those relationships. (None of the answers to this question will necessarily reflect well on me). Steph Power, for instance, was a good friend, a wonderful editor and brilliant critical writer. But we lost touch and she drifted away and I think it was, in the end, because of our inability to secure funds to pay her what she deserved. John Lavin similarly (although on reflection I’m not entirely convinced John ever truly thought that highly of me in the first place). There are others.
But in each case, I do believe the personal differences came about becasue of the way I ran the Review, and I don’t believe I ran the Review incorrectly, given the financial circumstances. But I did at times run the Review in a way that was not the best way to keep personal relationships within the professional sphere of the Review healthy. I don’t think I ever got better at that. I don’t regret it, but I am sorry about it, and now, of course, with WAR sunk, I wonder if it was worth it.
I was obsessive about the Review, getting it out there, making it good, making it look like we were the shit, when in fact we were always operating right up against the wire, pulling levers and pushing buttons amid sloshing beers mugs and hangovers, squeezing every last drip out of whatever was on offer to us. For long periods, many shared that obsession. I had the bug for longer, and maybe - only maybe - more intensely. But it was shared.
I was wrong in thinking those who didn’t think WAR was a great thing were not just against us, but were enemies of culture - and I did think that at times. I look back and see that I thought we had adversaries. And I have not been disavowed of that perspective.
I don’t regret publishing a single article (although I deeply regret deleting one - but let’s not dig all that back up again).
One thing I don’t regret is the decision to close Wales Arts Review rather than struggle on, underfunded and under-valued. There were opportunities and possiblities for WAR to continue, but they could not be explored because the Books Council of Wales refused to engage with us on our concerns. So, that is that.
But I don’t regret a thing, because I see WAR as a significant power for good in the decade it was publishing. That it is closing does not make it any less important. I am proud of everything we did and everybody who contributed to our success. What is there to regret?
If you have a question for Gary Raymond about the life of Wales Arts Review email him at gary@walesartsreview.org
Thank you to everyone who asked if I had any regrets.
Gary Raymond is a novelist, author, playwright, critic, and broadcaster. In 2012, he co-founded Wales Arts Review, was its editor for ten years, and is currently its executive editor. His latest book, Abandon All Hope: A Personal Journey Through the History of Welsh Literature is available for pre-order and is out in May 2024 with Calon Books