Alan Llwyd original name Alan Lloyd Roberts, is a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 poet, literary critic and editor, one of the most prolific Welsh-language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 poets in the last quarter of the 20th century.

Born in Dolgellau

Dolgellau

Dolgellau is a market town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the county town of the former county of Merionethshire .-History and economy:...

, Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

, Alan Llwyd was brought up on a farm at Cilan and was educated at Bangor University

Bangor University

Bangor University is a university based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales-United Kingdom.It was officially known for most of its history as the University College of North Wales...

. He has been manager of a bookshop at Bala

Bala, Gwynedd

Bala is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales, and formerly an urban district of the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Bala Lake , 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau, with a population of 1,980...

 and worked as an editor for the Christopher Davies publishing company and an editorial officer for the Welsh Joint Education Committee.

He published his first volume of poetry Y March Hud ("The Magic Horse") in 1971 as Alan Lloyd Roberts, and this has been followed by a series of other volumes. He came to prominence when he achieved the rare feat of winning both the Crown

Crowning of the Bard

The Crowning of the Bard is one of the most important events in an eisteddfod. The most famous such ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Tuesday afternoon of Eisteddfod week....

 and the Chair

Chairing of the Bard

The Chairing of the Bard is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week....

 at the 1973 National Eisteddfod and then repeated the feat in 1976. On the second occasion there was some controversy, as another popular poet, Dic Jones

Dic Jones

Dic Jones , was a Welsh language poet and the Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales.He was born Richard Lewis Jones at Tre'r-ddôl in Ceredigion. The son of a farmer, Jones himself farmed on at Fferm yr Hendre at Blaenannerch in Aberporth...

, lost out on the chair through a technicality.

Llwyd has published collections and studies of the works of other poets, including Goronwy Owen

Goronwy Owen (poet)

Goronwy Owen was one of the 18th century's greatest Welsh poets. He mastered the traditional bardic metres and, although forced by circumstances to be an exile, played an important role in the literary and antiquarian movement in Wales often described as the Welsh Eighteenth Century Renaissance...

 and Hedd Wyn

Hedd Wyn

Hedd Wyn was a Welsh language poet who was killed during the Battle of Passchendaele in World War I. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod...

, and wrote the script for the Oscar-nominated Welsh-language film Hedd Wyn

Hedd Wyn (film)

Hedd Wyn is a 1992 Welsh anti-war biopic, written by Alan Llwyd and directed by Paul Turner.Based on the life of Ellis Humphrey Evans , killed in the First World War, the cinematography starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native Meirionnydd with the bombed-out horrors of Passchendaele...

(1992) about the life of the latter, who was killed in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. While most of his books have been on literary themes, he has recently edited Cymru Ddu = Black Wales, a history of black Welsh people.

Works (selection)

• Gwyfyn y Gaeaf (1975)
• Rhwng Pen Llŷn a Phenllyn (1976)
• Sonedau I Janice a Cherddi Eraill (1996)
• Y Grefft o Greu (1997)
• Ffarwelio â Chanrif (2000)
• Clirio'r Atig a Cherddi Eraill (2005)
• Stori Hedd Wyn, Bardd y Gadair Ddu (2009) (also translated into English as "The Story of Hedd Wyn, the Poet of the Black Chair")

English language works

• Llwyd, Alan (2008). Out of the Fire of Hell: Welsh Experience of the Great War 1914-1918 in Prose and Verse. Gomer Press
  Gomer Press
  Gomer Press is a printing and publishing company based in Llandysul, west Wales. The company was first established in 1892 and is owned by the same family to this day. Jonathan Lewis, the great grandson of the company's founder, is the current managing director...
  
  .