Hafina Clwyd (1 July 1936 – 14 March 2011) was a Welsh educator, writer and journalist. She had a weekly column in the '' Western Mail''."Hafina Clwyd: Perceptive and Vivacious Journalist Unafraid of Courting Controversy in Both English and Welsh"
''Independent'' (21 March 2011).

Early life and education

Mair Hafina Clwyd Jones was born at

Gwyddelwern Gwyddelwern is a small village and community of 508 residents, reducing to 500 at the 2011 census, situated approximately north of Corwen in Denbighshire in Wales. Historically the village was part of the Edeyrnion district of Meirionnydd. Edey ...

, and raised on a farm at

Llandyrnog Llandyrnog is a large village and community in Denbighshire, Wales lying in the valley of the River Clwyd, about from Denbigh and from Ruthin. The village has good road links to Denbigh and the main A541 road at Bodfari, and is served by bus ...

. Her family were Welsh speakers. She trained to be a teacher at

Bangor Normal College The Normal College, Bangor ( cy, Y Coleg Normal) was an independent teacher training college, founded in 1858. It was created through the efforts of the British and Foreign School Society and the educator Sir Hugh Owen, and was funded by £11,0 ...

.John Owen
"Mair Hafina 'Hafina Clwyd' Coppack"
in ''Dictionary of Welsh Biography'' (National Library of Wales 2009).

Career

Clwyd moved to London at age 21, to work as a teacher. There she co-founded a Welsh literary club, and was an officer of the

Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion ( cy, Anrhydeddus Gymdeithas y Cymmrodorion), often called simply the Cymmrodorion, is a London-based Welsh learned society, with membership open to all. It was first established in 1751 as a social, cultural ...

. After returning to Wales in the late 1970s, she edited a community newspaper in

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and ...

(''Y Bedol'') and a national weekly newspaper, ''Y Faner''. She was on the Ruthin town council from 1999 until the year she died, and served a term as mayor of the town (2008–2009). She was recognized with an honorary fellowship at Bangor University in 2005, "for services to journalism." Clwyd published eleven books, mainly essay collections, including ''Clichau yn y Glaw'' (1973), ''Defaid yn Chwerthin'' (1980), ''Clust y Wenci'' (1997) and ''Prynu Lein Ddillad'' (2009) Her works also included an edition of her own diaries from young womanhood, ''Buwch ar y Lein'' (1987), an autobiography, ''Merch Morfydd'' (1987), and a local history, ''Pobol sy'n Cyfri'' (2001). She also edited ''Welsh Family History: A Guide to Research''. Her last book, ''Mynd i'r Gwrych: Dyddiaduron, 1993–1999'' (2011) was published posthumously.

Personal life

Clwyd married fellow teacher Clifford Coppack as her second husband in 1971. She was widowed in 1997. Hafina Clwyd died in 2011, age 74, from

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

."Tributes paid to Hafina Clwyd"
''Wales Online'' (21 March 2011).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clwyd, Hafina 1936 births 2011 deaths 20th-century essayists 21st-century essayists 20th-century Welsh educators 21st-century Welsh educators 20th-century Welsh writers 21st-century Welsh historians 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers 20th-century women educators 21st-century women educators Welsh columnists Welsh women columnists Welsh journalists Welsh women journalists People from Denbighshire Welsh women educators Welsh newspaper editors Women newspaper editors Mayors of places in Wales Women mayors of places in Wales Welsh essayists British women essayists Welsh diarists Women diarists Welsh autobiographers Women autobiographers Welsh women historians Deaths from melanoma Historians of Wales