Menna Elfyn

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Menna Elfyn

FRSL
Born1952
NationalityWelsh
Genrepoetry

Menna Elfyn FRSL (born 1952) is a Welsh poet, playwright, columnist and editor writing in Welsh. She has been widely commended and translated. As a Welsh-language activist, she was imprisoned for her campaigning.[1]

Background[]

During the 1970s and 1980s, Menna Elfyn was a member and sometime official of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg. She was twice imprisoned for acts of civil disobedience.[2] She described the ordeal of being forced to speak in the English language to her parents when they visited her in prison.[1]

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 recommendation.[3] She has won numerous prizes for her work, including a Creative Arts prize to write a book on sleep.

When Elfyn issued her bilingual selected poems Eucalyptus, (Gwasg Gomer, 1995), Tony Conran 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).[4]

Her work has been translated into 18 languages, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Lithuanian. She is Writing Director of the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at Trinity University College, Carmarthen, and a Literary Fellow at Swansea University.[5][6]

Elfyn lives in Llandysul. Her daughter, Fflur Dafydd, is a writer and musician.

Published works[]

  • Mwyara, Gwasg Gomer (1976) ISBN 9780850883695, OCLC 877136990
  • Stafelloedd Aros, Gwasg Gomer (1978) ISBN 9780850886900, OCLC 877138151
  • Tro’r Haul Arno, Gwasg Gomer (1981) ISBN 9780850887976, OCLC 16591556
  • Mynd Lawr i’r Nefoedd, Gwasg Gomer (1985) ISBN 9780863832758, OCLC 14904018
  • Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw: cerddi 1976–90, Gwasg Gomer (1990) ISBN 9780863836671, OCLC 831354680
  • Eucalyptus, Gwasg Gomer (1995)
  • Cell Angel, Bloodaxe Books (1996)
  • Cusan Dyn Dall/ Blind Man's Kiss, Bloodaxe Books (2001)
  • Perffaith Nam, Gwasg Gomer (2005) ISBN 9781843234562, OCLC 59352065
  • Perffaith Nam. Perfect Blemish, Bloodaxe Books (2007) ISBN 9781852247799, OCLC 255911683
  • Er dy fod , Gwasg Gomer 2007 (book for learners/learning a language)

Other works[]

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

She became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2015.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b John Briggs (2012). 25/25 Vision: Welsh Horizons Across 50 Years. Institute of Welsh Affairs. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-904773-65-8.
  2. ^ "Menna Elfyn". Poetry International Archives. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  3. ^ Bloodaxe Books Retrieved 8 August 2017
  4. ^ Poetry International Rotterdam Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  5. ^ British Council Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  6. ^ University of Wales, Trinity St David Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  7. ^ http://rsliterature.org/fellows/current-fellows/

External links[]

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