News at Eleven: [Gillian] Clarke's mother had wanted

her daughter to become successful and English would help her when she grew up.

The poet recalls how her mother had banned the Welsh language at home and the only opportunity to practise her mother tongue was during drives with her father. I was reminded of Indian literature that is quite often subjected to the 'English versus regional languages' debate. How relevant it was to talk about the generation whose mother tongue was Malayalam or Welsh but which dreamt or prayed in English.

from The Hindu: Transported to faerie lands

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