Menna Elfyn

FLSW The Learned Society of Wales ( Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...

(born 1952) is a Welsh poet, playwright, columnist, and editor who writes in Welsh. She has been widely commended and translated. She was imprisoned for her campaigning as a Welsh-language activist.

Background

During the 1970s and 1980s, Menna Elfyn was a member and sometime official of

Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg The Welsh Language Society ( cy, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, often abbreviated to Cymdeithas yr Iaith or just Cymdeithas) is a direct action pressure group in Wales campaigning for the right of Welsh people to use the Welsh language in every as ...

. She was twice imprisoned for acts of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

. She described the ordeal of being forced to speak in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

to her parents when they visited her in prison. Elfyn has published ten volumes of poetry and a dozen more of children's books and anthologies. She has also written eight plays for the stage, six radio plays for the BBC, and two plays and several documentaries for television. She co-edited ''The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry'' with John Rowlands, which won a

Poetry Book Society The Poetry Book Society (PBS) was founded in 1953 by T. S. Eliot and friends, including Sir Basil Blackwell, "to propagate the art of poetry". Eric Walter White was secretary from December 1953 until 1971, and was subsequently the society's chair ...

recommendation. She has won numerous prizes for her work, including a Creative Arts prize to write a book on sleep (''Cwsg: am dro yn ôl''). When Elfyn issued her bilingual selected poems ''Eucalyptus'', (''Gwasg Gomer'', 1995),

Tony Conran Tony Conran (7 April 1931 – 14 January 2013) was an Anglo-Wales, Welsh poet and Translation, translator of Welsh language, Welsh poetry. His own poetry was mostly written in English and Modernist in style but was very much influenced by Wel ...

described her as "the first Welsh poet in 1500 years to have her work known outside Wales." He gave similar praise to her second bilingual volume, ''Cell Angel'' (1996). Her work has been translated into 18 languages, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Lithuanian. She was Writing Director of the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at

Trinity University College Trinity University College ( cy, Coleg Prifysgol y Drindod) was a Church University College in Carmarthen, Wales. The institution was founded in 1848 as the South Wales and Monmouthshire Training College, a teacher-training college. It change ...

, Carmarthen, and a Literary Fellow at

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

. Elfyn lives in

Llandysul Llandysul is a small town and community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. As a community it consists of the townships of Capel Dewi, Horeb, Pontsian, Pren-gwyn, Tregroes, Rhydowen and the village of Llandysul itself. Llandysul lies in sout ...

. Her daughter,

Fflur Dafydd Fflur Dafydd (born 1 August 1978) is a Welsh novelist, singer-songwriter and musician. Though mainly publishing in Welsh, she also writes in English. She contributes regularly in Welsh to Radio Cymru. Early life Dafydd is the daughter of Welsh ...

, is a writer and musician.

Published works

Poetry

*''Mwyara,'' Gwasg Gomer (1976) , *''Stafelloedd Aros'', Gwasg Gomer (1978) , *''Tro’r Haul Arno,'' Gwasg Gomer (1981) , *''Mynd Lawr i’r Nefoedd'', Gwasg Gomer (1985) , *''Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw: cerddi 1976–90,'' Gwasg Gomer (1990) , *''Eucalyptus,'' Gwasg Gomer (1995) *''Cell Angel,'' Bloodaxe Books (1996) *''Cusan Dyn Dall/ Blind Man's Kiss,'' Bloodaxe Books (2001) *''Perffaith Nam, Gwasg Gomer'' (2005) , *''Perffaith Nam. Perfect Blemish,'' Bloodaxe Books (2007) , *''Er dy fod '', Gwasg Gomer 2007 (book for learners/learning a language) *''Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011'' (Gomer Press, 2011) *''Murmur'' (Bloodaxe, 2012) *''Bondo'' (Bloodaxe, 2017) * Edited, with John Rowlands: ''The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry'' (Bloodaxe, 2003)

Prose

*''Optimist Absoliwt: Cofiant Eluned Phillips'' (biography of Eluned Phillips) (Gomer Press, 2016) *''Cwsg: am dro yn ôl'' (illustrated by Sarah Williams) (Gomer Press, 2019)

Other works

*''

Red Lady of Paviland The Red Lady of Paviland is an Upper Paleolithic partial skeleton of a male dyed in red ochre and buried in Wales 33,000 BP. The bones were discovered in 1823 by William Buckland in an archaeological dig at Goat's Hole Cave (Paviland cave) – ...

'' A project with composer

Andrew Powell Andrew Powell (born 18 April 1949) is an English musical composer, arranger and performer, born of Welsh parents. He himself moved to Wales in 2003. Early life Powell was born Surrey, England. He began piano lessons at the age of four and late ...

, Musical Director

Craig Roberts Craig Haydn Roberts (born 21 January 1991) is a Welsh actor and director. He is best known for lead roles as Oliver Tate in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film '' Submarine'' (2010) and David Meyers in the series ''Red Oaks'' (2014–2017), and ...

and the Burry Port Town Band, the centrepiece of which will be Menna and Andrew's new work 'Y Dyn Unig' (The Lonely Man). *Menna Elfyn (ed.) ''Cyfrinachau'' by Eluned Phillips (Honno, 2021)

Awards

*''Major Prize for Volume of Poetry (Stafelloedd Aros), Wrexham National Eisteddfod.'' (1977) *''Member of the Gorsedd for contribution to Welsh Literature.'' (1995) *''Poet Laureate for the Children of Wales'' (2002) *''Creative Wales Award'' (2008) *''Anima Istranza Foreign Prize for Poetry'' (2009) *''Arts Council Prize for 'Aderyn Bach mewn Llaw' '' *''Longlisted for book of the year, ' Cusan Dyn Dall/ Blind Man's Kiss '' Menna Elfyn became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

in 2015.

References

External links

Menna Elfyn WebsiteMenna Elfyn Profile
at

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

Menna Elfyn Profile
at

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Menna Elfyn Profile
at

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elfyn, Menna 1951 births 20th-century Welsh dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people Welsh women poets Welsh language activists Welsh-language poets Welsh children's writers British women children's writers Welsh women dramatists and playwrights People associated with Trinity University College People associated with Swansea University Welsh prisoners and detainees Welsh book editors Welsh women editors People from Ceredigion