Lygad yn Llygad book launch

Dr Huw Meirion Edwards

Dr Huw Meirion Edwards

07 August 2013

Lecturer and acclaimed poet Dr Huw Meirion Edwards from the Department of Welsh will launch his new book of Welsh poetry on the Aberystwyth University stand at the National Eisteddfod today.

"The publication of this book is an important event that certainly deserves a celebration on the Eisteddfod field," said Geraint Lloyd Owen, Head of Gwasg y Bwthyn Publishing, publishers of the book.

Poet Dafydd John Pritchard added: "One can make two claims about Huw Meirion: he is a craftsman and a lyricist. This is an excellent book. "

Huw Meirion Edwards grew up in Llanfairpwll on Anglesey and then in Cardiff, and has lived for twenty years in Llandre near Aberystwyth where he lectures in the Department of Welsh.

He has published extensively in Welsh, particularly medieval poetry: and is one of the editors of Cerddi Dafydd ap Gwilym (2010) and the Dafydd ap Gwilym.net website.

He is a member of Talwrn y Cŵps and Ymryson Ceredigion (Welsh language poetry contests) and won the Newport and District National Eisteddfod Chair in 2004 with the collection of poems entitled ‘No Man’s Land'.

The launch will include a reading by Huw Meirion along with Dafydd John Pritchard and Iwan Bryn. Singer Catrin Herbert, a student from the Department of Welsh will  also sing a few songs.

Lygad yn Llygad’ Book Launch, 7th of Augustat 12pm on the University’s stand at the National Eisteddfod.

Students’ drama company at the National Eisteddfod

A drama company of Aberystwyth University students have won their place in the final round of the competition to perform a One Act Play at the National Eisteddfod today.

Gwion James, Sian Owens, Carys Jones and Lucy Andrews of Cwmni’r Frenigen Mercator, from the Mercator Institute and the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, will stage the play Carnifal, a Welsh translation by Jan Piette (a former Lecturer in Breton at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth) of the original Breton drama Meurlarjez by the famous writer Roparz Hemon.

The performance will take place in Theatr y Maes at 12 o’clock on Wednesday the 7th of August.

The play is set in a Manse in Snowdonia in the early years of the twentieth century. The treatment is satirical and raises interesting questions which the production exploits to the utmost, being visually inventive and full of energetic and lively performances.

The original Breton play was first published in 1938, and the translation was published in the second number of the Welsh-language literary magazine, Taliesin, in 1962.

The play was re-discovered by researchers working at the Mercator Institute on a new project funded by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to create an online Catalogue of Translations into Welsh.

The aim of the project is to create an online catalogue of translations into Welsh that will serve the academic needs of researchers, lecturers and students in the Arts, the Humanities and the Social Sciences.

The project has already uncovered a wealth of material translated into Welsh, material that provides valuable insights into the ideas of some of the world’s most influential and celebrated writers and thinkers.

Archdruid is guest speaker at Alumni Reunion
The annual National Eisteddfod Aberystwyth alumni reunion will take place on the Aberystwyth University stand on Wednesday afternoon between 2-4pm.

The guest speaker this year is Dr Christine James. An alumna of Aberystwyth University, she is the first female Archdruid.

Hosted jointly by the Old Students’ Association and the University, this is a great opportunity for everyone who’s ever studied at Aberystwyth University to get together on the Eisteddfod field.

Professor April McMahon, Vice Chancellor of Aberystwyth University will also be present, and Mrs Ina Tudno Williams, the Vice Chairperson of the Old Students’ Association will share a few memories.