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A university lecturer has become the first American to win a major literature prize at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Mr Hunter now lives in Penygroes, Gwynedd, with his wife, the actress Judith Humphreys, and their two daughters but is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
This year's Prose Medal was presented for a volume of creative writing of no more than 40,000 words on the subject 'Adfywiad' (Regeneration) and Mr Hunter, writing under the pseudonym M.W., wrote about the age old relevance of what is today called Post Traumatic Stress.
Nine volumes of work were sent to the competition and 'M.W'.'s work was deemed by adjudicators, Elfyn Pritchard, John Gruffydd Jones and Caryl Lewis, to be the winning entry.
Speaking on behalf of his fellow judges on the Pavilion stage, Elfyn Pritchard said: "The excellence of this volume fully outweighs any weaknesses in it, and when the three of us discussed the works in the competition, we agreed that Gwenddydd by M.W. was not only the best work in the competition but it was also worthy of winning the Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod prose medal."
Jerry Hunter studied English at Cincinnati University, and was introduced to Welsh literature as part of his degree course.
Inspired by the richness of the language and its literature, he decided to come to Wales and learnt the language in an eight-week course in Lampeter. He has an MPhil degree in Welsh from Aberystwyth University and a doctorate in Celtic Languages and Literature from Harvard University.
During his time at Aberswyth University he was a member of Welsh funk band Arfer Anfad.
He now works as reader in the Welsh Department at Bangor University.
He has published four academic books, and one of them - Llwch Cenhedloedd - won the Welsh Book of the Year Award in 2004. He has also published a short novel for children, Ceffylau'r Cymylau and has presented history programmes on S4C.
Jerry Hunter receives the Prose Medal and a financial prize of 750. Both prizes were provided by Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw. He also received the first printed copy of the winning work, which is now available to buy from shops on the Maes and across Wales.
Speaking about the winning work, the author said: "With war still affecting our world, someone often hears about the way Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affects the lives of soldiers and former soldiers.
"Of course, this is not a new thing; the poets and storytellers of Walesin the Middle Ages had ways of discussing the same thing. There is a story about Myrddin Wyllt becoming mad during the Battle of Arfderydd (Arthuret). He went to live in the woods - a mad man of the woods - where he wrote prophetic poetry. He avoided other people and his sister, Gwenddydd, was the only person who was allowed to speak to him.
"My aim was to reveal the age-long aspect of the story by placing it in recent times."
Source www.bbc.co.uk
Dateline 3rd August 2010 CE, Caerdydd Canolog (Cardiff Central Station). Your reporter arrives in a business-like fashion to catch the train to the Eisteddford. Ticket purchased, she looks for the appropriate platform and notes that the display shows 0 (zero). There is a platform 0 at Cardiff and this lends a Harry Potterish air to the entire enterprise. On time, we set off up the valley, stopping at tiny stations along the way.
A journey of less than an hour brings us to Ebbw Vale, where everyone on the train disembarks and heads for the shuttle bus. It's raining - what else did we expect? Fortunately, there is only a short wait for the bus and, once settled, your intrepid reporter digs into her bag for her publicity material and hands over Carmarthen Underground postcards.
I'm not really familiar with the Valleys and this was my first in Ebbw Vale. What struck me first was how lovely the surrounding countryside was, deeply green and carrying no visible scars from the long-gone industries. Granted, the Eisteddfod was placed on what is now a big building site, but, once among the booths and tents, the atmosphere was terrific. Of course, had I come on the Monday, I would, no doubt, have seen hordes of druids in their little wellies, and perhaps even the new Archdruid, Jim Parc Nest. Sadly, during my visit, there was a dearth of druids so I was very disappointed. Still, chwarae teg, I enjoyed the day.
I had a good wander around, amused at the various signs and impressed at how adaptable Welsh can be when faced with words like "noodles" for translation. There were booths selling exquisite hand-made jewellery, harps in a variety of sizes, two women playing the harp in one booth, art, crafts of all kinds, so much literature in both Welsh and English and, always in the background, chatter in the language of heaven. Young and old people, all enjoying themselves as the rain receded and and sun came out.
Having found Y Lolfa's booth, I introduced myself and went for a Welsh cake at the very cafe across the way before settling down to sign some books. Afterwards, I took my postcards and handed them out to passers-by for a time, then went for a long walk around the maes to give them out to all and sundry. While I was there, two copies sold so there was great excitement! One of the copies was sold to a lady I'd met on the bus and who, after so kindly buying the book, took a photo entitled "Desperate Author in front of Bookstand"! Note to self: coercion obviously works when selling books.
Anyone famous spotted? Well, there was beth-chi'n-galw who used to be in Pobol Y Cwm (and may still be, for all I know); then there was the multi-talented Dewi Pws, who, whether he liked it or not, had one of my cards thrust into his hand.
At about 4.15, I was weary and made my way back to the bus for the journey to Cardiff. It had been a wonderful day and great feeling to be even a really tiny part of it all.
Because of my experience, I was doubly astonished at a letter in the Western Mail the following day (Wednesday). The writer, living in Cardiff, seemed to be a "glass half empty" sort of person. He described the festival as a celebration of a dying language in a dying landscape (or words to that effect). This couldn't have been further from the truth as far as I was concerned and it's definitely not the sort of attitude to be encouraged. I, for one, am looking forward to going again; hopefully, there'll be some druids about!
  Today marks the start of Welsh Month at Portland Central Library. We set up our display case in the foyer this morning and posters and fliers are on display. We are publicizing an exciting range of Welsh and American Welsh events which will occur in Portland in the coming months:- Events will include:- Don't miss this opportunity for fellowship and Welsh culture in the Pacific Northwest! Our daytime programming will feature four days of interesting and informative seminars, workshops, concerts & much more. Book Launch at NAFOW. Acclaimed author, Rhys Bowen has announced she will use the occasion of the North American Feistival of Wales to launch the latest book in Her Royal Spyness series Royal Blood! Events include Night of The Living Bards and Last Bard Standing also Keeping Up With the Joneses , an introductory Welsh language class at Portland Central Library. Wales will be heavily represented at this years Wordstock festival. More details here:- here:- and here:- Wordstock If you live in , or plan to visit, the Portland area this fall we hope to see you at one or all of these events  |
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As part of this years Left Coast Eisteddfod we are pleased and proud to announce the following event. For full details visit the Portland Central Library event page here:- Keeping Up with the Joneses -yn y Gymraeg: A Taste of the Welsh Language "In this fun, activity-based course, you will be able to do what Welsh stars Catherine Zeta-Jones & Tom Jones CAN'T do - youll be able to speak the language of Cymraeg (Welsh)! In this 2 hr taster course, forget dictionaries or taking notes, instead youll be meeting new ffrindiau(friends) and sharing gwybodaeth(information) about your interests. This is an activity-based experience that is so enjoyable you wont even know youre learning! Expect to participate, experiment and most of all to have fun! In this class well also be: **having a laugh and a go at pronouncing Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch **storytelling enjoy reading some of your favorite Jumbo Fairy tale books in Welsh. **listening to englynion and other styles of Welsh poetry."  About the teacher: To California native Diana Manzanilla , discovering Cymraeg was a fluke. Yet, the language instantly captivated her, causing her to leave home and family for the beautiful green valleys of Wales. She spent 2 years in that glorious land - the first spent learning Welsh and the second spent teaching Welsh to adults using the same methods youll experience in this course. |
THE AUGUST HEAT BOILS OUR BRAINS!
Many of you will have noticed the new sliding ad feature at the head of the AmeriCymru homepage. Its kind of hard to avoid. You may also have noticed that it is navigable via the new next/previous buttons we have incorporated. We believe that this makes for an amazingly powerful and effective advertising tool. The AmeriCymru homepage has a Google page rank of 4 and is visited by approximately 1000 unique visitors a day. Several of the current ads will become redundant by early October and we are offering our members and readers these valuable slots for just $50 FOR A FULL YEAR!! We are making available six slots at this price and we pledge that there will never be more than 8 ads in rotation at any one time once the current event ads expire in October. Also we will rotate the ads within the rotation so that each ad gets a chance to be first on the page. If you are looking to reach a Welsh American audience this gives you the chance for just 50 dollars to reach an audience of 350,000 potential customers in the next 12 months. We will design your ad if you wish and include any graphics and links you specify. Furthermore we will allow unlimited design revisions to both the design and the target url in the course of your 12 month contract. We will also consider feature articles and interviews to promote your service or product which will be heavily publicized both on this site and via other social media.
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
Because we need to raise large sums of money very quickly to finance our intervention at Wordstock in support of Welsh publishers and authors. See the following post on WelshIcons posted by our good friend Dom Stocqueler:- You cant keep a Welshman down: Wales at Wordstock
For us Wales international image is far more important than a couple of quid. But plane fares cost money.
WHAT DO I NEED TO QUALIFY FOR THIS PROMOTION?
Well.... basically you'll need $50 , a product, book, event or CD of Welsh relevance to promote and a desire to help promote Wales and Welsh literature at the West Coast's largest and most prestigious literary festival. This is an opportunity to combine self-interest with altruism for next to nothing. We know that many people reading this post devoted considerable time and energy to supporting our campaign in the recent Chase Community Giving contest on Facebook. This is our way of saying thank you and we pledge to ensure that your promotional campaign is a success.
Diolch
Ceri Shaw
Competition
To celebrate 'Mimosa' day we are offering a copy of 'Voyage To Patagonia' autographed by both Luis Orias Diz and Adam Khan. All you have to do is answer the three following questions and email your answers to :-
The deadline for entries is August 7th 2010 and the lucky winner will be announced on the site on August 8th. Please remember that we will only accept one entry per email address and duplicate submissions will be disqualified. Just go to the following url :- The Mimosa Lands in Patagonia this day in 1865 and answer the three questions below.
1. How much was the adult fare aboard the Mimosa from Liverpool to Patagonia?
2. On what date did the Mimosa sail from Liverpool?
3. What is the name of the town which grew near the spot where they landed?
Pob lwc/Best of luck Comment or leave a message on the Argentine Welsh Duo's AmeriCymru page HERE.
The Welsh Argentine Guitar Duo are Luis Orias Diz and Adam Khan. Argentina and Wales have strong links and the duo is exploring the musical heritage of both countries as well as performing works from their respective folk traditions and pieces by living composers from Wales and Argentina. AmeriCymru spoke to the duo about their history, influences and their forthcoming Album and tour of Wales details here :-
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| Voyage To Patagonia |
