Planet: The Welsh Internationalist

Planet, also known as Planet: The Welsh Internationalist, is a quarterly cultural and political magazine published in Aberystwyth, Wales. Founded in 1970, it has spent more than five decades looking at Wales from an international perspective, and at the world from the standpoint of Wales — a editorial philosophy that has made it one of the most distinctive and enduring voices in Welsh publishing.

The magazine enjoys a vibrant and diverse international readership, and is read by key figures in the Welsh political and cultural scene. From a small office in mid Wales, it has built a global reach that few independent magazines can match, landing on doormats in almost every corner of Wales while also arriving in postbags everywhere from New York Public Library and the Ivy League universities to Guyana, Russia, Patagonia and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Founding and Early Years

Planet was set up as a bi-monthly publication by Ned Thomas in 1970, and was published continually until 1979. Its creation followed a decision taken in 1967 to devolve the function of the Arts Council of Great Britain in Wales to the Welsh Arts Council. Thomas later explained that the Arts Council's literature director, Meic Stephens, had a vision of creating a publishing base in Wales that had not existed before — and Planet was born out of that vision.

The magazine was renamed Planet: The Welsh Internationalist in 1977, a title that captured its defining outlook: an outward-looking Welshness that refused to see the nation in isolation. In 1979, on the eve of the Welsh devolution referendum, Thomas decided to bring the magazine to an end. Predicting a "no" vote, he argued that a rejection of devolution would mean that Planet's stance and ideology had failed, while a yes vote would mean Wales needed a magazine published more often than once every two months.

Relaunch and the Barnie Years

The magazine was persuaded back into existence in 1985. With improved funding, John Barnie was employed as a full-time assistant before becoming editor in 1990. Barnie's editorship, which ran until 2006, shaped much of the modern character of the magazine, deepening its engagement with environmental questions, literature and the politics of Welsh identity during a period that saw Wales vote for devolution and the creation of the National Assembly for Wales.

Barnie was succeeded by his wife, Helle Michelsen, in 2006. Michelsen edited the magazine until 2010, when Jasmine Donahaye took over for a two-year editorship. In 2012, Emily Trahair became editor, with Dafydd Prys ap Morus as production editor and Helen Pendry as assistant editor. The current team has since evolved: Lowri Angharad Pearson joined in 2015 as Administrative and Marketing Assistant, and Hywel Edwards in 2017 as Production Officer.

A Quarterly Publication

In 2002, funding for the magazine was moved from the Arts Council to the Welsh Books Council, and in 2009 the Welsh Books Council changed its magazine funding remit to a quarterly. The first expanded quarterly issue was published in April of that year, giving the magazine a bigger, more substantial format than its earlier bi-monthly incarnation.

The magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary with its 200th issue in November 2010. Recent issues — including issue 230 — show a publication that has grown from a modest bi-monthly into a substantial quarterly journal, with rich visual content and long-form writing that remains unusual in Welsh publishing.

Editorial Scope and Coverage

Planet publishes high-quality writing, artwork and photography by established and emerging figures, covering subjects across politics, the arts, literature, current events, social justice questions, minority language and culture, the environment and more. A typical issue moves between hard political analysis and literary criticism, from investigations of devolution and Welsh politics to essays on visual art, poetry, short fiction and photography.

The autumn 2014 issue (number 215), for instance, ranged from a feature on nuclear power and Hinkley Point in Wales, through debates about the First World War and literature and empire, to articles on Welsh keywords such as "cyfraith", memoirs of Robert Graves and Harlech, and reviews of books, art and music. Issue 207 (August 2012) carried pieces on music and unemployment, unmanned aerial vehicles, Welsh social history, language loss and street protest — a breadth of concern that has always been the magazine's signature.

Welsh Internationalism in Practice

The "internationalist" in the magazine's title is more than a slogan. Planet has consistently placed Welsh experience in a global frame: its pages have carried writing on stateless nations, post-disaster Indonesia, Sinophobia in Cardiff, Maya communities in Belize and Cornish theatre, alongside coverage of Welsh-language poetry, Swansea City FC's social history and the Welsh devolution settlement.

This outward-looking stance has helped the magazine build a genuinely international readership. Copies are hand-packed by the magazine's own team and posted across the globe — to prisons, universities, national libraries and readers in most of the stateless nations of Europe. That global reach, built up over decades from a small Aberystwyth office, represents an extraordinary achievement for an independent Welsh magazine.

Politics, Devolution and Public Debate

From its founding, Planet has been closely tied to the politics of Wales. It was born from the devolution of arts funding, closed around the first devolution referendum, relaunched as Welsh political life matured, and grew into a quarterly just as the National Assembly for Wales was finding its feet. Its political coverage has ranged from the mechanics of devolution and Welsh independence to environmental policy, social justice and Wales's place in the world.

The magazine has been both a weathercock and a signpost for Welsh political culture: attuned to undercurrents and emerging tensions within Wales and the world, while also shaping readers' consciousness about everything from the Welsh language and national identity to climate change, neo-imperialism and racism. Countless readers have said that Planet changed the way they see themselves and the world.

Arts, Literature and Culture

Alongside politics, the arts have always been central to Planet. The magazine publishes poetry, short stories and essays, and carries reviews of books, visual art, theatre and music. Its regular "Welsh Keywords" series has explored terms like "cyfraith" and "bro" — the cultural concepts embedded in the Welsh language — while feature articles have examined figures from Robert Graves to contemporary Welsh artists.

The visual presentation matters too: recent issues carry credited cover art and back-cover photography, and the magazine has long treated artwork and photography as editorial content in their own right rather than mere illustration.

Planet Extra and the Digital Presence

Alongside the print quarterly, the team produces Planet Extra, the magazine's website, which carries additional editorial content, blogs and archive material. The site extends the magazine's reach beyond its print subscribers and provides a platform for shorter, more immediate pieces that sit alongside the long-form journalism of the quarterly.

The magazine's current website at planetmagazine.org.uk serves as both a shopfront for subscriptions and back issues and a home for this online editorial content.

Editorial Team and Independence

Planet remains a small, independently minded operation. Under editor Emily Trahair, who took the helm in 2012, the magazine has continued to prize its independence — what Trahair has described as an independent spirit that bypasses the London media agenda to connect with the rest of the world on its own terms.

The magazine has often held powerful interests to account, a brave little light that has sometimes needed protection from what its editor calls the chilling draughts of marketisation and political censure. Its survival across more than fifty years, through closures, relaunches and changes of funder, testifies to both the loyalty of its readership and the commitment of its successive editorial teams.

Legacy and Influence

Few Welsh publications can match Planet's record of sustained, serious engagement with the nation's cultural and political life. It has published and nurtured generations of Welsh writers, artists and thinkers, and its back catalogue — stretching from 1970 to the present, with the 1979–1985 gap — forms one of the most important archives of modern Welsh intellectual life.

As the magazine itself has noted, it has played a significant part in helping an often tragically divided nation understand itself better, transcending tedious culture wars over the decades. From the pen of founder Ned Thomas to the present day, Planet: The Welsh Internationalist remains a distinctive voice: proudly Welsh, resolutely internationalist, and still asking the difficult questions after more than half a century.