19th century

The 19the century witnessed "a veritable explosion" of published works of Breton literature, particularly after ties between the Breton people and the Catholic clergy were restored following the religious persecution of the First French Republic.^[6]

Increasingly, antiquarians and Celtic revivalists undertook the collection of folk texts, songs and stories. The wave of interest in collecting oral traditions reached Brittany around 1815-1820 when educated members of the nobility such as Aymar de Blois de La Calande, Barbe-Émilie de Saint-Prix, Jean-Marie de Penguern, Jean-François de Kergariou, Ursule Feydeau de Vaugien, exchanged their findings informally.^[5] Writers such as Anatole Le Braz and Théodore Hersart de la Villemarqué (son of Ursule Feydeau de Vaugien) brought new readers to traditional Breton literature.

Barzaz Breizh (literally "The Bards of Brittany") is a collection of Breton oral poetry collected by La Villemarqué and published in 1839 (revised and expanded edition 1845). It was compiled from the oral tradition and preserves Breton mythology, legends, and music. Although hugely influential, Barzaz Breiz came under attack from a later generation of collectors, who accused La Villemarqué, like James Macpherson and the Brothers Grimm, of collecting songs and stories and then editing them before publication to accord with contemporary literary taste. Taking a more rigorous approach to the collection of oral material, François-Marie Luzel published Gwerziou Breiz Izel (1868–1874) and Contes Bretons (1870).^[5] Despite their differences, both La Villemarqué and Luzel inspired many others to collect and publish other works of oral poetry and to also write and publish a flood of new poetry in the Breton language.^[6]

Auguste Brizeux used Le Gonidec's standardised Breton for Telenn Arvor (1844), and his collection of proverbs, Furnez Breiz (1845).

In 1877, Lan Inisan published Emgann Kergidou ("The Battle of Kergidou"), the first and only novel in Breton to be published before the First World War. The novel is set during the 1793 Chouannerie in Saint-Pol-de-Léon; an uprising by Breton nobles and commons against the French Revolutionary Army and the First French Republic.^[6]

20th–21st centuries

Even though the neo-bardic, Gorsedd, and Eisteddfod movement in Brittany was founded during the early 19th century by Auguste Brizeux, the real heyday of the movement took place between 1900 and the outbreak of the First World War. Those two decades were dominated by François Jaffrenou, whose bardic name was Taldir, and who introduced many Iolo Morganwg-inspired elements of Welsh culture into Breton culture. During those decades, Taldir founded the Gorsedd Barzed Gourenez Breiz Isel (The Gorsedd of Bards of the Peninsula of Brittany) and did much to encourage both traditional Celtic poetry and a sense of community among Breton Bards.^[7]

The poet Jean-Pierre Calloc'h (1888–1917) was killed during the First World War. His posthumously-published collection Ar en deulin established his reputation as a war poet.

According to Jelle Krol, "It is not merely a collection of poems by a major Breton poet: it is a symbol of homage to Yann-Ber Kalloc'h and all those Bretons whose creative powers were cut short by their untimely deaths. Breton literature from the trenches is very rare. Only Yann-Ber Kalloc'h's poems, some war notes written by Auguste Bocher, the memoirs recounted by Ambroise Harel and Loeiz Herrieu's letters addressed to his wife survived the war."^[8]

In the 1920s, a movement, in which the linguist and author Roparz Hemon played an important part, arose to introduce both literary modernism and world literature into the Breton language. The literary magazine Gwalarn provided an outlet for literary modernism, such as Jakez Riou and Yves Le Drézen (who published the first long novel in Breton in 1941). The artistic movement Seiz Breur included writers.

The literary magazine Al Liamm published its first issue in 1946. Numerous authors of modern Breton literature, such as Abeozen, Per Denez,^[9] Youenn Drezen, Xavier de Langlais (Langleiz), Añjela Duval,^[10] Reun Ar C'halan, Maodez Glanndour, Youenn Gwernig, Roparz Hemon, Ronan Huon, Paol Keineg, Kerverzioù, Meavenn, Youenn Olier, Yann-Ber Piriou ... have made contributions to the magazine with poems, short stories, essays, studies, ... Breton poets and singers who were directly involved in the revival of the music of Brittany, such as Milig ar Skañv (Glenmor), Youenn Gwernig, or Bernez Tangi, have also published poems and songs in Al Liamm.

Pierre-Jakez Hélias (1914–1995) wrote stage plays, literary adaptations of tales from Breton mythology, prose, nonfiction, and poetry in both Breton, which he often self-translated into French. In 1948, he was the co-founder, with François Bégot and Jo Halleguen, of Les grandes Fêtes de Cornouaille Breton: Cornouaille Kemper) in Quimper, which he helped adapt from an annual beauty contest into a Welsh Eisteddfod-inspired summer festival celebrating Breton culture, literature, and music which still continues.^[11]

Helias' contemporary Añjela Duval (1905–1981) wrote poetry reflective of her peasant origins, mysticism, and social conscience.

In contrast to the concentration on short-form writings in Breton which had dominated production in the previous century, a trend towards novel-length writing developed from the 1980s. By the beginning of the 21st century a dozen or so novels on average were being published in Breton every year. The choice of genres was diverse, including detective fiction, historical fiction, and autobiographies. With incentives from educational contexts, contests and literary prizes, there has been a development of young adult fiction, often using fantasy and science fiction themes. Yann-Fañch Jacq is a notable author of such fiction aimed at young Breton-speaking readers. New more adult themes have appeared as the novel genre has developed: for example, Yann Fulub Dupuy's Par Dibar (2006) deals with sexuality.^[12] Finally special mention should be made of the poet and singer Denez Prigent, whose creative career and international success (a rarity in contemporary France, as opposed to the epoch of Jacques Brel) testifies to the appeal of Breton artists.

Prizioù is an annual (since 1997) award for expressions of Breton culture in seven categories, of which fiction is one. Prix Xavier de Langlais (named after Xavier de Langlais) is an annual (since 1976) prize for best unpublished prose work or poetry collection.