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Bird,Blood,Snow was published in paperback on 1st November 2012, priced 8.99 ( GBP )

Award winning Welsh writer Cynan Jones pens the latest addition to Seren''s critically acclaimed series:- New Stories From The Mabinogion

Read our interview with Cynan Jones

Other Titles by Cynan Jones

The Long Dry Everything I Found At The Beach

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As befits any retelling of the Mabinogion ''Peredur'' story this is a grim and sanguinary tale. The original revolves around the hero''s attempts to win favour and esteem at the medieval court of King Arthur.

In re-imagining this myth for a contemporary audience Cynan Jones has adopted for his hero the juvenile terror and scourge of a modern council estate. No mere ASBO, we follow with horror as Peredur graduates from juvenile delinquency to the status of full blown adult psychopath. In the Afterword Cynan speculates that ''Peredur'' is an early, fragmentary and unfinished example of the medieval questing tale. Consequently the story is related by means of a series of testimonies, police and psychiatric reports and occasional press clippings. There is also a sprinkling of handwritten notes left by the protagonist and excerpts from an unnamed ''biographer'' who has ".....hijacked Peredur, tried to mythologise him".

These different perspectives are woven together skilfully to ensure a seemless narrative flow which is never jarring or disconsonant.

At age eight Peredur is the topic du jour at a local police planning conference:-

"All growed up. Oh well. At least he''s livened things up a bit. We were in need of some entertainment....what do you do with a f****** eight year old who sticks a f****** stick in someone''s eye?"

Later in his career of infamy he is interviewed by his biographer and reveals that:-

"...You can get a person all slopey with a collar bone, easy with something heavy. Not highly technical. Good, satisfying crunch when they go. Ribs are tricky. Sometimes they go, sometimes they dont. You kind of know when you''ve popped a lung though; easily confused mind with a cracked sternum: either way f****** cant breath."

The attempt to mythologize and romanticize Peredur referred to in the opening letter to the editor consists of a series of psuedo Nietzschean ramblings which, whilst they may throw some light on the internal workings of a diseased mind, do very little to make the character any more sympathetic:-

"Usually people make peace with the world and work out compromises so that the two will not hurt each other badly.

Well, some few do not make peace. And some of these are locked away as hopelessly insane and full of fantasy.

I know full well I choose now, one way or another, whether to climb aboard, let myself be spun up in my delusion: in the speed and whirl of it. Let the world of my merry go round turn into a blur. It''s all choice. That''s what the sane sometimes don''t recognize....."

All in all this is a ghastly tale superbly well told. Not for the squeamish it is a must read for anyone with a taste for Welsh noir.It might also serve as a reminder to some that the tales of the Mabinogion have little to do with unicorns, fairy tale castles and damsels in distress.They are often accounts of ghastly and murderous events justified by a barbaric pre Roman, dark age and medieval warrior ideology. And of course.....none the worse for that.

Review by Ceri Shaw

Book Details

CYMRAEG |  ENGLISH

In this interview John Good speaks to Menna Elfyn, an award-winning poet and playwright who writes with passion of the Welsh language and identity. She is the best known and most translated of all modern Welsh-language poets. Author of over twenty books of poetry including Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw (1990), winner of a Welsh Arts Council Prize; the bilingual Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 from Gomer and her previous collection, Cell Angel (1996) from Bloodaxe, children’s novels and educational books, numerous stage, radio and television plays, she has also written libretti for US and UK composers.

...

John: Fel person sy wedi dysgu''R Gymraeg yn America ar ôl gadael Cymru yn y saithdegau, mae diddordeb mawr ‘da fi mewn profiadau pobl Cymraeg eu hiaith Tramor. Fel awdures, a ydych chi byth wedi’ch synnu gan y brwdfrydedd a chroeso a gafodd eich gwaith ar draws Clawdd Offa oddi wrth bobl Ddi-Gymraeg?

Menna: Wel ydw mewn gwirionedd. Wnes i erioed freuddwydio y byddai fy ngwaith yn croesi dros Glawdd Offa na chyrraedd America, Tsieina, Sbaen, Norwy-- a gwledydd eraill ond mae''n deimlad hyfryd am fod hynny''n golygu bod cynulleidfaoedd yn dod i wybod fy mod yn sgwennu yn y Gymraeg yn gyntaf ond mae fy ngwelediad wrth gwrs yn ehangach na hynny. Rwy''n gweld y byd trwy ''r Gymraeg a does dim testun na ellid ysgrifennu amdano yn yr iaith honno. Dyna i chi Harlem yn y Nos, cerdd a luniais pan oeddwn yn ysgrifennu libreto ar gyfer Cerddorfa Ffilharmonic Efrog Newydd ac yn gorfod byw yno am wythnosau ar y tro , dros gyfnod o flwyddyn a hanner ac yn gorfod mynd i gwrdd a''r cyfansoddwr a oedd yn byw yn Washington Heights... a dychwelyd wedyn trwy Harlem.

Un enghraifft efallai ond rwy''n dal i ddweud wrth bawb pan af ar Wyliau Llenyddol -- mod i''n ysgrifennu ar gyfer y byd i gyd felly dyw e ddim yn syndod mewn gwirionedd.. Ers Tachwedd 2013, rwy wedi darllen yn Tsieina, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Seattle, St Andrews yr Alban a''r wythnos nesa'' yn Grasmere, cartre Wordsworth , yna yng Nghernyw ddiwedd Mai. Felly rwy wastad ar grwydr a wastad yn dechrau darlleniadau gan ddarllen yn Gymraeg ac yna''n darllen rhannau rhwng cerddi, fel bod y Gymraeg yn toddi''n naturiol i''r cyfieithiadau Saesneg. Fy ngherdd gynta'' bob tro yw '' Cusan Hances'' ar ol i RSThomas ( a wnaeth gyfieithu dwy o''m cerddi gyda llaw) ddweud bod cerdd mewn cyfieithiad fel cusanu trwy hances! Gwell hynny na pheidio a chusanu o gwbl!

John: Darllenais eich llyfr dwyieithog MURMUR yn ddiweddar. Fyddech chi amlinellu ac egluro inni eich dull o drin cyfieithu gan awduron eraill a chi’ch hunan?

Menna: O''r cychwyn, pan oedd galw i mi ddarllen mewn mannau fel Sbaen a ''r Iwerddon roeddwn wedi pwyso ar gyfeillion o feirdd-- Nigel Jenkins, Gillian Clarke a''r un sydd yn ffrind gorau i mi Elin ap Hywel, ac eraill er mwyn cael y cyfieithiadau gorau posib. Roedd yn rhaid i mi wneud ambell un fy hun ond roedd Tony Conran yn dweud '' you are not worthy of the poet!'' achos roedd e''n credu fy mod yn mynd ar goll wrth drosi a ddim yn ffyddlon i''r gerdd . Ond pam ddylwn i? A dyna''r drwg wrth gwrs o wneud y cyfieithiad eich hun sef eich bod yn mynd i rywle arall yn lle glynu at y gwaith mewn llaw. Dyna pam mae cyfieithu yn gelfyddyd o''i wneud yn iawn. Un gorchymyn oedd gen i -- i''r cyfieithwyr - gwnewch y gerdd yn well -- trowch hi''n gerdd annibynnol ond gydag ambell gysgod o''r Gymraeg. Rhaid iddi fyw heb ei chwaer fel petai.

Mae cyfieithu i ieithoedd eraill yn fwy o broblem wrth gwrs ac mae''n cymryd amser. Mae cyfrol mewn Hindi ar waith, cyfrol Arabeg, cyfrol Gatalaneg, i enwi dim ond rhai. Lwc pur yw cael rhywun fel yn achos yr Arabeg i ddod atoch ar ddiwedd darlleniad a dweud ei bod yn mynnu fy nghael yn ei mamiaith hi sef Arabeg. Fel yna mae''r gwaith yn hedfan mae''n debyg. Bydd ambell wall wrth gwrs mewn ambell lyfr er enghraifft fel wnaeth cyfieithydd o Tsieieg gyfieithu '' Drws yn Epynt'' yn y llyfr o''m gwaith yn yr iaith honno yn '' Drws yn yr Aifft -- Door in Egypt! Wrth gwrs doedden nhw''n gwybod dim am Epynt yng Nghymru ac am y bobl yn cael ei hel o''r darn hwnnw o Bowys er mwyn i''r milwyr ymarfer yno.

Ond, erbyn meddwl roedd ysbryd newydd rhyfedd i''r gerdd ar ei newydd wedd ac roedd yn gweithio gyda phob dim sy''n digwydd yn y wlad drist honno y dyddiau yma. Yn Murmur mae dau o''m cyfieithwyr yn rhai newydd-- Damian Walford Davies ac rwy''n ceisio annog Paul Henry i wneud mwy gan ei fod yn fardd mor wych ac yn siarad Cymraeg. Fe gollais fy nghyfieithydd cyntaf eleni, gan y bu Nigel Jenkins farw a fe a fi oedd yn cyfieithu ein gilydd ar y dechrau nol yn yr wythdegau. Colled bersonol i mi a cholled fwy i''w deulu a Chymru. Ond dyma fi wedi crwydro oddi ar y cwestiwn. Nigel ddarllenodd y cerddi mewn cyfieithiad yn un o''m lansiadau yn Abertawe gan ei fod yn ffrind mor agos ac annwyl i mi .

John: Unwaith, mae athro Cymraeg wedi fy ngofyn i a allwn i siarad Cymraeg. “Dim ond Cymraeg ‘Cwmafan’ oedd f’ateb. Yn syth ymlaen , mae fe wedi dweud rhywbeth fel “Hynny yw Cymraeg!” Beth ydy’ch meddyliau chi ar y pwysigrwydd o dafodieithoedd a sut all pobl gyffredin, lenyddol a chymdeithasau fel AmeriCymru camu i’r adwy’u hachub nhw?

Menna: Rwy''n dotio ar dafodieithoedd ac yn casglu pob dim a medraf er mwyn eu defnyddio rywbryd mewn cerddi. Mae''r bardd yn wiwer wedi''r cyfan a''i chnau yw geiriau. Ie, dylid ar bob cyfri eu casglu, eu harfer, eu cadw a llunio geiriau newydd sbon. Er enghraifft mae''r gair '' selfie'' wedi ei droi erbyn hyn yn hunlun sy;n reit dwt dwi''n meddwl.

John: Bob hyn a hyn ac weithiau yn aml, ceir yr ysbryd neu gysgod o Gynghanedd yn eich gwaith chi. Ydy harmoni a gwrthbwynt y geiriau yn gymar cyfartal i ystyr yn y cyfansoddiad?

Menna: Pan oeddwn i''n ysgrifennu yn chwedegau, doedd gen i ddim amser i ddysgu''r rheolau a cheisio ffrwyno fy ngwaith -- roedd gen i bethau own i am eu dweud heb hualau ''r gynghanedd. A hynny er bod fy nhad yn cynganeddu ond roedd mynd ato a dangos ambell linell o gynghanedd ac yntau''n dweud bod yna gam acennu yn ddigon i mi roi''r gorau iddi. Ond mae''r gynghanedd fel un haen yn hyfryd -- ac er fy mod erbyn hyn yn medru cynganeddu a gwneud ambell englyn neu gywydd digon teidi, dwi ddim yn meddwl ei fod yn fy nghyfffroi yn gymaint a cherddi rhydd.

Dwedodd Robert Hass.. I love the line, following the line - I''ve never written a sonnet in my life''. Wel dwi wedi ysgrifennu mewn ffurf pan yw''n gweithio''n ddiymdrech ond rwy''n dwlu ar farddoniaeth Americanaidd - mae dull y beirdd mor eang , mor ddihualau a dyna dwi''n treio ei wneud yn fy ngwaith innau. Rhaid cael yr angerdd cychwynnol a bwrw iddi wedyn ac os daw llinell o gynghanedd i''r golwg neu dan yr wyneb, wel gorau oll, ond nid cychwyn yn y fan honno dwi''n ei wneud. Rwy''n ei weld fel nofio mewn pwll nofio -- i fyny ac i lawr, cadw o fewn eich ffiniau gyda''r nofwyr eraill tra bod y wers rydd yn gadael i mi nofio yn y mor, heb wybod ei ddyfnder , ac heb wybod ei berygl ac yn gallu mynd o un man i''r llall heb i neb fy rhwystro -- heblaw fi fy hunan wrth gwrs.

Menna Elfyn yn darllen '' Handkerchief Kiss '' / '' Cusan Hances '' a cherddi eraill YouTube

John: Ydych chi’n hoff o ddedleins? Fe ddywed rhai’u bod nhw yn symbylu ‘r dychymyg; eraill sy’n dweud y gwrthwyneb. Hefyd, beth ydy’ch meddyliau chi am gomisiynau?

Menna: Wel rwy''n byw ar gomisiynau erbyn hyn boed yn ddramau radio neu''n gerddi neu''n ddrama lwyfan. Ond gan fy mod yn ysgrifennu bod dydd mae''r bardd wastad a''i lygaid yn agored am y gerdd nesa'' . A''r annisgwyl sydd wastad wedi fy nghyffroi.

Fe ofynnwyd i mi lunio dwy linell am Catrin Glyndwr i gerflun a godwyd iddi yn Llundain ac mi luniais--

Godre twr adre nid aeth
[At the tower end –far away from home
Aria ei rhyw yw hiraeth
[Longing is a woman’s song]

Dyna un fan lle mae''r gynghanedd yn help i greu rhywbeth byr , twt. teimladwy gobeithio. Ond ar ol ei llunio roedd Catrin Glyndwr yn fy meddwl a bob hyn a hyn roeddwn yn meddwl am ei sefyllfa yno gyda''i phlant yn Nhwr Llundain ac yn tristau wrth feddwl am hynny. Ac er i''r cerddi gymryd deg mlynedd mewn gwirionedd - dyna oedd y cerddi rown i am eu gosod yn gynta'' yn Murmur. Mae''r gyfrol yn llawn Murmuron wrth gwrs ond mae''r cerddi hyn yn mynegi rhywbeth dwfn am fod mewn gwlad estron ar glo, heb eich mamiaith.

John: Mae Cymru a’r Cymry yn rhan annatod o’ch gwaith llenyddol chi. Ydy hi’n wahanol ysgrifennu oddi cartref? Oes hoff le gweithio ‘da chi?

Menna: Pan dwi adre ,dyna pryd y caf gyfle i feddwl, i ystyried popeth. Pan mae rhywun ar daith mae yna gymaint o bethau i''w gweld, ac i fod yn ofidus fel checo bagiau, cloi drysau stafelloedd yn y gwesty ac ati. Ond dyna pryd rwy''n rhydd sef gartre a hefyd lle mae''r Gymraeg i''w chlywed ar y stryd. Mae Llandysul yn dal yn un o''r pentrefi mwyaf Cymraeg yng Nghymru a chaf foddhad o fynd i bob siop a medru siarad Cymraeg. Ond rwy''n anniddig hefyd yn aml gyda'' mi fy hun a''m cyd- Gymru.

Gwnes ymgyrch bersonol yn ddiweddar o ddweud diolch nid unwaith wrth adael siopau mewn ardaloedd Cymraeg a mannau lle doedd y person ddim yn siarad Cymraeg gan ddweud diolch rhyw deirgwaith -- yn y gobaith y byddent efallai yn troi i''w ddweud yn Gymraeg. Amlach na pheidio dim ond ''thank you'' a gawn sy''n reit warthus wrth feddwl faint o weithiau y mae''n rhaid gen i -- iddyn nhw glywed y gair. A dyna''r gair cyntaf a ddysgaf o fynd i wlad dramor. Os na allwn fynd ymhellach na '' diolch'' yna... wel, mae''n well peidio a dechrau''r sgwrs honno!

John: Ers tro byd, mae beirdd Cymreig wedi bod crefftwr di-ofn, hyd yn oed gyda’r ddyletswydd o siarad am gamwedd. Rhowch inni eich barn ar wleidyddiaeth mewn celfyddyd, os gwelwch chi’n dda?

Menna: Rwy''n gweld y ddeubeth weithiau yn dod at ei gilydd. Fe wnaeth Nigel Jenkins a finnau ddechrau ymgyrch gwrth -apartheid yn yr wythdegau i beidio a gadael i''n gwaith gael ei ddangos gydag arddangosfa o Dde Affrica. Mae sefyll dros annhegwch wastad wedi bod yn rhan o waith bob dydd beirdd OND pan rydych yn ysgrifennu, mae''r gwaith yn galw amdanoch i fod yn ffyddlon i''r grefft a bydd pob mathau o deimladau, rhagfarnau, yn dod i''r wyneb. Felly, dwi ddim bellach yn ysgrifennu gwaith didactig na gwaith ffeminyddol gwleidyddol ei naws. Efallai bod hynny yn siom i rai oedd yn fy ngweld fel lladmerydd i achosion arbennig.

Ar ol dweud hyn i gyd, rwy''n gyffrous bod PEN Cymru ar fin ei lansio gan i mi ddechrau ymchwilio i''r posibiliad rhyw ddegawd yn ol ond roedd y teithiau yn ei wneud yn amhosib i mi ymrwymo i''w sefydlu. Rwy mor falch y bydd yn realiti cyn bo hir. Rhaid bod yn wleidyddol fel dinesydd wrth gwrs ac rwy''n cefnogi llawer o achosion gwleidyddol- rhy niferus i''w nodi yma.

John: Unrhyw beth diddorol ar y gweill? Unrhyw ddymuniad heb ei gwireddu?

Menna: Mae cyfrol am '' Gwsg'' i''w gyflwyno erbyn diwedd y flwyddyn i Wasg Gomer ar gyfer ei gyhoeddi yn 2015. Bu ar waith ac ar stop oherwydd gweithiau eraill. Bydd cynhyrchiad theatr hefyd gyda Theatr Clwyd a hefyd mae '' Gair ar Gnawd'' sef oratorio a luniodd Pwyll ap Sion a finne yn mynd ar daith yn 2015 gyda Chwmni Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru ( cafwyd dau berfformiad yn 2013) ac rydym wedi ychwanegu ato cyn iddo fynd ar daith eto. Rwy am gyfieithu mwy o farddoniaeth Gymraeg i''r Saesneg fel yn Murmur - sydd a 3 cerdd o waith Waldo yno.

John: Oes unrhyw negeseuon terfynol ‘da ti am yr aelodau a darllenwyr AmeriCymru?

Menna: Rwy wrth fy modd gyda''r wefan hon ac yn llawenhau ei bod hi mor fywiog -- dylem ar bob cyfri ei hanwesu a diolch i Ceri Shaw amdani. Ers i mi ymweld gynta'' a''r Unol Daleithiau yn 1997 rwy wedi dychwelyd i ddarllen neu ymweld -- bob blwyddyn bron iawn. Rwy wrth fy modd yno felly os ydych am fy ngwahodd i roi darlleniad i chi -- byddwn wrth fy modd yn dod atoch. Hwyl am y tro a diolch am y cyfle i gael cyfweliad ar AmeriCymru.

Interview by John Good

CYMRAEG | ENGLISH

In this interview John Good speaks to Menna Elfyn, an award-winning poet and playwright who writes with passion of the Welsh language and identity. She is the best known and most translated of all modern Welsh-language poets. Author of over twenty books of poetry including Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw (1990), winner of a Welsh Arts Council Prize; the bilingual Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 from Gomer and her previous collection, Cell Angel (1996) from Bloodaxe, children’s novels and educational books, numerous stage, radio and television plays, she has also written libretti for US and UK composers.

John:  As a person who has learnt Welsh in America after leaving Wales in the 70’s, I have a great interest in the experiences of Welsh speaking people abroad. As an authoress, are you ever surprised by the enthusiasm and welcome your work has received across Offa’s dyke from people who don’t speak the language?

Menna:   Well in truth I am. I never dreamt that my work would cross Offa’s Dyke then reach America, China, Spain, Norway and other countries but it is a lovely feeling because it means that audiences get to know that I primarily write in Welsh but my perspective is wider than that. I see the world through the Welsh language and there isn’t a subject that cannot be written about in that language. There you go, Harlem yn y Nos (Harlem at Night), a poem that I fashioned when I was writing a libretto for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and I had to live there for weeks at a time, over a period of a year and a half, having to meet with the composer who lived in Washington Heights … and return afterwards through Harlem.

One example perhaps, but I continue to say to everyone when I go on Literary Excursions that I write for the whole world and, truthfully, it isn’t a surprise. Since November 2013, I have read in China, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Seattle, St. Andrews Scotland, and next week Grasmere, Wordsworth’s home, then in Cornwall at the beginning of May. So I’m always roaming and always start readings reading in Welsh and then read [English?] passages between poems, because the Welsh mixes naturally with the English translations. My first poem is always ‘Cusan Hances’ (Handkerchief Kiss) after RS Thomas (he translated two of my poems by the way), saying that poetry in translation is like a kiss through a hanky! Better that than no kiss at all!

John: I read your bi-lingual book MURMUR recently. Would you outline and explain your approach to translation by other writers and by you yourself?

Menna: From the outset, when I was asked to read in places like Spain and Ireland I relied on poet friends -- Nigel Jenkins, Gillian Clarke and my best friend Elin ap Hywel and others for the best translations possible. I had to do some myself but Tony Conran said '' you are not worthy of the poet!'' because he believes I’d get lost while translating and not be faithful to the poems. But why should I? And that’s what’s bad about translating yourself, that you would end up somewhere else other than keeping to the work in hand. That’s why translation is an art that needs to be done carefully. I had one dictate for the translators – make the poem better – turn it into a self-contained poem, but with the ghost of the Welsh language. It has to live as if independent of its sister.

Translations to other languages are more problematic of course and it takes time. There are volumes available in Hindi, Arabic and Catalan, to name but a few. In the case of the Arabic volume, it was pure luck to find someone, after a reading, saying they would like to have my work in their mother tongue i.e. Arabic. As in this case, poetry can fly presumably. There will be some bad ones of course in some books, for example, the Chinese translator translated ‘Drws yn Epynt ‘[Door in Epynt] in a book of my work in that language as ‘Drws yn Aifft’ --Door in Egypt! Of course they didn’t know anything about Epynt in Wales and the people being driven from that part of Powys for the army to train there.

But, on reflection, there was a surprising new spirit to the poem with its new mien and it worked with everything that was happening in that sad country at that time. In Murmur, two of the translators were new – Damian Walford Davies and I’m trying to urge Paul Henry to do more, for he is such a brilliant poet and speaks Welsh. I lost my first translator this year when Nigel Jenkins died and he and I translated each other in the beginning back in the 80’s. It was a personal loss to me and a greater loss to his family and Wales. But there I go wondering off the question. Nigel read the poems in translation at one of my book launches in Abertawe as he was such a close and dear friend to me.

John:  Once, a Welsh teacher asked me if I could speak Welsh. “Only ‘Cwmafan’ Welsh” was my answer. Straight away he said something like “That is Welsh!” What are your thoughts on the importance of dialects and how can ordinary and literary people and societies like AmeriCymru step into the breach to save them?

Menna:   I dote on dialects and collect everything I can in order to use sometime later in poems. After all, a poet is a squirrel and words are her nuts. Yes, they should on every account be collected, their use, their safe keeping and [also] the formation of brand new words. Take the word ‘selfie’ for example, by now it has turned into self-portrait, which I think is really neat.

John: Every now and then and sometimes frequently the ghost or shadow of “Cynghanedd” [strict-meter/Bardic Welsh poetry] is found in your work. Is the harmony and counterpoint of words an equal partner to meaning in the composition?

Menna:   When I was writing in the 60’s, I didn’t have time to learn the rules and try to rein in my work – I had things to say without the fetters of cynghanedd. And then despite my father writing using Cynghanedd and trying to show me a variety of such lines, going on to tell me there were mistakes in the stresses was enough for me to give up. But cynghanedd as one stratum is lovely – and even though by now I am able to use it and make a decent enough englyn or cywydd it doesn’t excite me as much as free verse.

Robert Hass has said…’ I love the line, following the line - I''ve never written a sonnet in my life''. Well, I have written in a form when it works effortlessly but I dote on American poetry – the range of the poets is so wide, so unfettered, and that’s what I try to do in my own work. You must have the initial passion and strike at it afterwards, and if a line of cynghanedd appears or comes into view, all the better, but I don’t start from that place. I see it like swimming in a swimming pool – up and down, keeping in your lane with the other swimmers, while free verse allows me to swim in the sea, without knowledge of the depth and without knowing its danger and able to go from one place to the other without anyone limiting me –except for myself of course.

Menna Elfyn reads ''Handkerchief Kiss'' / ''Cusan Hances'' and other poems YouTube

John: Are you fond of deadlines? Some say it sparks the imagination; others the opposite. Also, what are your thoughts on commissions?

Menna:   Well, these days I live on commissions, be they radio dramas, or poems or stage plays. But having said that, poets always have their eyes open for the next poem. And the unexpected always excites me.

I was asked to write two lines about Catrin Glyndwr for a statue that was erected to her in London and I wrote –

Godre twr adre nid aeth
[At the tower end –far away from home
Aria ei rhyw yw hiraeth
[Longing is a woman’s song]

Here’s one place where cynghanedd helps create something concise, neat, a touching hope. But after it was written, Catrin Glyndwr was on my mind and every now and then I would think about her situation with her children in the Tower of London, and was saddened thinking about it. And even though in truth the poems took ten years, those were the first poems I would include in ‘Murmur’. The volume is full of Murmuron [murmurs] of course but these poems express something deep about being locked up in a foreign country without your mother tongue.

Recently I began a personal campaign of saying ‘diolch’ not only once when leaving shops in a Welsh-speaking area and places where the person didn’t  speak  Welsh, but three times in the hope perhaps they would turn to saying it in Welsh.

John: Wales and welsh people are an integral part of your literary work. Is it different writing away from home? Do you have a favorite work place?

Menna: When I am home, that’s the time when I’ll have the chance to think, to consider everything. When someone is travelling there are so many things to see, and to be careful checking bags, locking hotel doors and so on. At home, that’s when I am free and also where Welsh is heard on the street. Llandysul continues to be one of the strongest Welsh-speaking villages in Wales and I have the satisfaction of being able to speak Welsh in every shop. But I am also frequently irritable with myself and my fellow Welsh. 

Recently I began a personal campaign of saying ‘diolch’ not only once when leaving shops in a Welsh-speaking area and places where the person didn’t  speak  Welsh, but three times in the hope perhaps they would turn to saying it in Welsh. More often than not I got only ‘thank you’ which is shameful when you think about how many times they must have heard the word from me. And that’s the first word I learn going overseas. If you’re not able to go further than ‘diolch’ then …well, it’s better not to start that conversation!

John:   For a very long time, Welsh poets have been fearless craftsmen, even with the responsibility of speaking about injustice. Give us your opinion please on politics in art?

Menna:   Sometimes I see the two things come together. Nigel Jenkins and I started an anti-apartheid campaign in the 80’s not allowing our work to appear in South African shows. Standing up against unfairness always has been the every-day work of poets BUT when you write, the work calls for you to be faithful to the craft and all kinds of feelings, prejudices will rise to the surface. Therefore, I don’t write pieces with a didactic or politically feminine tone. Perhaps this is a shame to some who have seen me as an emissary of special causes.

Having said all that, I am excited that PEN Cymru is about to be launched, because I started researching the possibility some decades ago but travelling made it impossible to commit to its establishment. I’m so happy that it will be a reality before long. As a citizen, you have to be political of course and I support many political causes – too numerous to mention here.

There’s going to be a volume about ‘Cwsg’ [sleep] before the end of the year for Wasg Gomer that’ll be published in 2015.

John: Anything in progress? Any wish that needs to be realized?

Menna: There’s going to be a volume about ‘Cwsg’ [sleep] before the end of the year for Wasg Gomer that’ll be published in 2015. Because of other works it’s been stop and go. Also there’ll be a theater production with Theatr Clwyd and ‘Gair a Gnawd’, an oratorio written by Pwyll ap Sion and myself that is about to go on tour in 2015 with The Welsh National Opera Company ( it had two performances in 2013) and we’ll have  added to it before it goes on tour again. I want to translate more Welsh poetry into English as in Murmur – that has 3 poems of the work of Waldo [Williams] in it.

John: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Menna: I really enjoy this site and am delighted that it is so lively – on every account, we should embrace and thank Ceri for it. Since my first visit to The United States in 1997 I have returned to read or visit very nearly every year. I am in my element there, so if you invite me to give a reading, I’d be delighted to come to you. Bye for the time being, and thanks for the chance to be interviewed on AmerCymru.

Interview by John Good