Mererid Hopwood won the Chair, Crown and Medal for Prose in Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. She was the Welsh-Language Children’s Laureate in 2018, and in the same year won Tir na n-Og Prize for her novel for children, Miss Prydderch a’r Carped Hud (Gwasg Gomer). She won the poetry award Book of the Year in 2016 with her collection of poetry, Nes Draw (Gwasg Gomer, 2015). She collaborated with musicians including Karl Jenkins, Eric Jones, Gareth Glyn, Christopher Tin and Robat Arwyn and participated in literary festivals in Europe, Asia and South America. She is a Fellow of Cymdeithas Ddysgedig, and the chairman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and honorary president of the Waldo Williams society. She is a Professor at University of Wales Trinity Saint David where she has been teaching for ten years.

Karen Owen is a poet from Penygroes, who has won awards for her work and has performed worldwide. She won the Llwyd o’r Bryn Memorial Award for recitation at the National Eisteddfod in 2018 and became editor of Golwg magazine at the age of 26, and then a producer of BBC Wales religion programmes. She was a correspondent for Y Cymro newspaper and editor of the online news service Golwg360. In 2017 she took part in the Literature Wales’ Her 100 Cerdd and succeeded as part of a team to write 100 original poems in 24 hours. She is a master of the ancient strict meter poetry in Wales and a poetic teacher, and in 2018 her poetry show, 7 Llais, toured Wales.