Quick Facts
Biography
Menna Elfyn FRSL (born 1952) is a Welsh poet, playwright, columnist, and editor.
Background
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. 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". Her second bilingual volume, Cell Angel (1996), was hailed by the same critic as the most significant collection of Welsh poetry in 40 years.
Her work has been translated into eighteen languages including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Lithuanian. She is Writing Director of Masters Programme in Creative Writing at Trinity University College, Carmarthen and a Literary Fellow at Swansea University.
Menna lives in Llandysul. Her daughter, Fflur Dafydd, is a writer and musician.
Published works
- 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, 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)
Other works
- Red Lady of Paviland A project with composer Andrew Powell, Musical Director Craig Roberts and the Burry Port Town Band, the centrepiece of which will be Menna and Andrew's new work 'Y Dyn Unig' (The Lonely Man).
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.