A new literary geography: Establishing a digital atlas of Wales and its borderlands

The Literary Atlas is an exercise in what literary geographers call deep mapping.

It will contain not only geographical references to real and imagined places in Welsh fiction, but also historical, cultural, and sociological information about these localities.

The Literary Atlas will be augmented with filmic, photographic and audio material, academic and critical commentaries, excerpts of books, and author interviews.

The Literary Atlas will provide virtual tours of the locations used in novels, and directions so that these tours can also be walked in practice. In doing so it will enhance our understanding of the relationships between literary textuality and geography.

The project has three broad aims:

Encourage the critical and active reading of fictional narratives
Promote an understanding of how literature can help strengthen individual and community identity
Enhance cultural tourism