Wales Book of the Year 2022: Welsh-language Winners

Morfudd doesn’t understand people and people haven’t tried to understand her. When she receives a Facebook request from a young girl who lives her life online, Morfudd’s curiosity is awakened.  

As her obsession with this electronic girl grows, Morfudd is forced to face the secrets of her past. Will the wounds that fester inside her shake both their worlds forever?  

A powerful contemporary story, this is the first novel from the actress Ffion Dafis following the success of Syllu ar Walia (Y Lolfa, 2017).

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Ffion Dafis is familiar as an actress and presenter on radio and TV. Originally from Bangor, she is best known for playing the parts of Llinos in the TV series Amdani and Rhiannon in Byw Celwydd on S4C. She played Lady Macbeth in Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru’s groundbreaking production of Shakespeare’s play at Caerphilly Castle in 2017.

It is in the ‘bargaining between hardness and softness’ that the poems of merch y llyn, the second volume from Grug Muse, occur; in the bodies of water that provide an escape and a threat in one breath. The layers of geology reveal the layers of the self, in work that shows that the boundary between pain and pleasure, between the raw and the sensuous, is really very thin. 

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Grug Muse is a poet and writer from the Nantlle Valley. She won the chair at the National Eisteddfod in 2013 and published her first collection, Ar Ddisberod (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas), in 2017. Her work has been translated into German, Greek, and Latvian.  

In her raw autobiography, the singer Non Parry lifts the curtain on the glamour of life in the public eye and frankly discusses mental health.  

As a member of Eden, Non became a familiar face at just 22 years old. Overnight, she and her best friends Emma and Rachael made their dream a reality. However, behind the refrain “Paid â bod ofn“, (“Don’t be afraid”), there was a very different Non.  

In 2018, the time came to admit the truth: she was afraid of many things. After years of suffering in silence, enough was enough.  

“When am I going to be normal?” she asked out loud.  

Here is her story – the insecure child suffering with OCD and anxiety who went on to perform in front of thousands, the perfect imperfect wife and mother who has learned to live with the challenges of her husband Iwan John’s illness and the effects on the whole family of waiting years for a transplant.  

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Non Parry is a member of the hugely popular pop group, Eden. She also writes scripts and is currently studying an MA in Psychotherapeutic Practice. She has a popular podcast on BBC Radio Cymru, Digon yw digon – amser i gael sgwrs onest am iechyd meddwl.  

Non is married to the actor Iwan John and has three children as well as two stepchildren. 

Five honest, powerful and candid novels from some of our foremost young writers. Y Pump embraces the complexities of five friends in Year 11 of Ysgol Gyfun Llwyd – Tim, Tami, Aniq, Robyn and Cat. The five novels follow this group of friends as they discover the power their otherness has when they come together as a community.  

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Tim – Elgan Rhys and Tomos Jones (co-authors of the first novel in the series)

Elgan Rhys was raised in Pwllheli and has lived in Cardiff for a decade. He mainly works in theatre as an author (Woof), performer (Chwarae) and director (Llyfr Glas Nebo). His role as an author, creative director, and editor of Y Pump is his first publishing project.  

Tomos Jones is 18 years old and lives in Cardiff. This is the first novel he has helped to create. He hopes to stay in Cardiff to study Welsh at university.  

Tami – Mared Roberts and Ceri-Anne Gatehouse (co-authors of the second novel in the series)

Mared Roberts hails from the New Quay area of Ceredigion. She read French and Spanish at Cardiff University and is now a translator. This is her first novel.  

Ceri-Anne Gatehouse is a writer and poet who is currently pursuing a BA in Drama and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is proud of working on a novel that provides representation for young people who are usually under-represented.   

Aniq – Marged Elen Wiliam and Mahum Umer (co-authors of the third novel in the series)

Originally from Bangor, Marged Elen Wiliam currently lives in Cardiff after periods spent living and studying in London and Cambridge. She recently completed an MPhil in South Asian Studies. She works as a policy officer and spends her spare time writing or meditating.  

Mahum Umer is a third generation Pakistani who was born in Wales and he is proud of his Pakistani and Welsh roots. He is studying Welsh and hopes to use his experiences to bring variety into literature and the media, starting with Aniq, his first experience of working on a novel.  

Robyn – Iestyn Tyne and Leo Drayton (co-authors of the fourth novel in the series)

Iestyn Tyne is originally from the Llŷn Peninsula, but he now lives in Caernarfon. He is one of the editors at Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp and he has published two volumes of poetry. This is his first novel.  

Leo Drayton is a trans boy from Cardiff. After leaving Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, he volunteered in Cambodia before going to university. This is the first novel he has worked on and he enjoys writing poetry.  

Cat – Megan Angharad Hunter and Maisie Awen (co-authors of the fifth novel in the series)

Megan Angharad Hunter hails from Penygroes, Nantlle Valley, and she is studying Welsh and Philosophy at Cardiff University. In 2020, she received a New Writer’s Bursary Award from Literature Wales before publishing tu ôl i’r awyr (Y Lolfa), her first novel for young people.  

Maisie Awen is 18 years old and comes from Pembrokeshire. She studies the performing arts and loves all types of arts. Cat is the first novel she has worked on, but she has been writing poetry and short stories for years.