Is all the information that we have discovered and made public about the author Jim Perrin falling on deaf ears in Wales? Apparently not minded to pay any attention to the details which we have been posting, the editor of the ‘New Welsh Review’ continues to credit him with her personal approval; even allowing to stand, in NWR, a review of West in which the reviewer used these accusatory words — by implication of our family and Jac, the sister we lost to cancer — ‘About the cruel and covetous behaviour of the immediate family of the recently deceased.’ Please see our post Pillaging. This was quite shameful as although the reviewer may not have known the facts, the editor had most certainly been told.

On January 29th. she participated in an event held at the Library of Wales, Aberystwyth — ‘Land-connectedness’ — where, the details explained: ‘Jim Perrin will be in conversation with Gwen Davies.’

Despite what we have written in Jac’s sisters’ letter to Wales Literature Exchange — a copy of which was sent to Gwen Davies — and her conversations with one of us, she still publicly and actively supports Jim Perrin; not just privately but in her capacity as a person of some importance in the Welsh literary establishment: which, of course, she is entitled to do… Lleucu Siencyn, the chief executive of Literature Wales, was also alerted to Jim Perrin’s proclivities, when our letter was sent out.

But they do know of our site; they were told he has abused several young women in Wales — and that we have direct knowledge he has done so. They were informed that he is not of the Welsh ancestry which he has untruthfully claimed for years; and surely they must, by now — although maybe at first believing Jim Perrin — be aware that all he has said and written about his Terminal Lung Cancer (the illness for which he has been given so much tea and sympathy…) is totally fraudulent: the means to an end.

We realise that Jim Perrin has long been most comfortably embedded in the Welsh literary community… and that until the inception of our site no-one has challenged him or scrutinised his past activities.

Those whom he has abused, in whichever way, tend to choose ‘discretion’ and to nurse their wounds rather than confront him after the event; really, there seems to be a Conspiracy of Silence. This, sadly, is so often the case with abusers. As one of his victims told us, ‘she thought she was the only one’, and another said she ‘was so frightened [she] felt she had to keep a low profile for fear of his malign influence’.

*        *        *        *        *

Then, of course, there is the money…  it would be interesting to account for what must be the thousands of pounds that over the decades Jim Perrin has received from various sources in the Welsh literary world, and perhaps it might be cause for embarrassment to many who have facilitated his progress to accept what is being disclosed about him; is it preferable to believe his explanation, when asked about our site, that it is he ‘who is the victim, the victim of malicious gossip which is being spread about him.’? Furthermore, he has let it be known that anyone reading our site (let alone acknowledging the reality of what we have written) is showing grave disloyalty to him…

As long as Jim Perrin is propped up by his Friends in High Places, (and it seems Gwen Davies and Lleucu Siencyn are two of these), and — as appears to be the case — forgiven by them the transgressions of which it is certain no decent man would be guilty, he is free to continue in what we believe (from evidence we hold) to be the dishonourable ways employed by him for at least two decades.

We do wonder why it should be that he is still cushioned and protected by women in positions of influence in Wales. Unchallenged, he is, should he wish, able to form new relationships amongst the community of writers where he is lauded. Each fresh intake of young women, unaware of our site or of Jim Perrin’s questionable history with ‘relationships’, and who possibly are altruistic and vulnerable, might hang on his every word. One such student at Aberystwyth University has written in her blog (posted in NWR) a review of an evening last November where he was reading from his latest book: ‘Somebody who has written so BRAVELY for so long.’ (Our emphasis.) She is perhaps referring to his ‘cancer’?

This most talented, and ‘brave’, author has not relied on his talent alone but, in our opinion, has never scrupled to take advantage of others, and he has shown over the years a marked ability to ‘move on’; and with no hint of a conscience towards those whom he has abused and made use of.

Again we ask: how is it that Jim Perrin retains his influence over the women of influence in the Welsh literary world… ?

Jac’s sisters.