Review of writer's book written by his own publicist

ACONTROVERSIAL writer is at the centre of a new row after a publicity assistant promoting his latest book posted a favourable review of it, as an ordinary reader, on the Welsh Book Council's website.

In recent years Julian Ruck has crossed swords many times with the literary establishment in Wales. His allegation that "the Welsh publishing industry is nothing more than a parasitical, elitist carbuncle on the hide of a struggling Welsh economy" was reported not just in London-based national papers, but in the New York Daily News.

Mr Ruck, who lives in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, has railed against subsidies to writers and publishers, and claimed that "since the 1950s there hasn't been one single Welsh writer of any national or international note". The Welsh Books Council and Literature Wales have taken the brunt of his criticisms.

Now, however, the Welsh Books Council at least appears to have buried the hatchet. The Welsh Government-funded body, which...