"The £2,000 prize, which is awarded every two years, is for a work published in the fields of poetry, short stories, literary criticism or Welsh history. The Prize is open to any writer born in Wales or currently living in Wales.

The judges chose an all-women shortlist to compete for this year's Prize, and - for the first time - two of the books on the shortlist were works of literary criticism, charting the history of Welsh writing.

The winner of the 2009 award, Jane Aaron received the prize for her book, Nineteenth Century Women's Writing in Wales: Nation, Gender and Identity (published by the University of Wales Press).

The four shortlisted authors all talked about their work during the Prize event. The other three are:
• Sheenagh Pugh, who is nominated for her latest collection of poetry, Long Haul Travellers (published by Seren).
• Carys Davies, who is shortlisted for her collection of short stories, Some New Ambush (published by Salt).
• Sarah Prescott, for Eighteenth Century Writing from Wales: Bards and Britons (also published by the University of Wales Press).

BBC Wales arts presenter, Nicola Heywood Thomas, who presents BBC Radio Wales' Arts Show, hosted the event.

The Roland Mathias Prize was established in honour of the poet and author, Roland Mathias, who lived in Brecon for 40 years before his death in 2007. He played a major part in establishing Welsh writing as a distinctive literary genre. The two previous Prize winners were poets, Dannie Abse and Christine Evans."

The Prize events were held in association with the Brecknock Society and Museum Friends and BBC Cymru Wales.

Article written by Glyn Mathias