[5] A novelist and poet as well as a critic and editor, Welch published The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature[6] in 1996, a book that appeared on the bestsellers list.
In 2009, Welch received the O'Connor Literary Award in Monasterevin, County Kildare at the Gerard Manley Hopkins summer school.
Japhy Ryder: Ar Shleasaibh na Mangartan, a book of biographical and critical studies, won the prize at Oireachteas, Ireland's premier Irish language cultural festival, in 2011.
[10] The book prompted significant attention from paper, internet, radio and television media on its release and posthumously achieved the number -one position among RTÉ best sellers.
Welch wrote the introduction to Rogha Danta/Death in the Land of Youth: New and Selected Poems of Seán Ó Tuama (1997, Cork University Press).
"[15] Welch was general editor of a series published by Colin Smythe entitled Ulster Editions and Monographs containing 16 volumes.
In 2010, Welch was commissioned by Ransom Productions to write one part of a double bill entitled Both Sides along with David Ireland, which opened at the Lyric Theatre.