Twm Morys
Encyclopedia
Biography
Morys was born in 1961 in OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, a son to the author Jan Morris
Jan Morris
Jan Morris CBE is a Welsh nationalist, historian, author and travel writer. She is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City.With an English mother and Welsh father,...
. He was brought up in Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy is a village and community on the Llŷn Peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales, although it is not regarded as being part of Llŷn, but belonging instead to the local region of Eifionydd...
and attended Ysgol y Llan, before attending boarding school in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
at the age of seven. Morys returned to Wales to study a Welsh-language A level at Brecon Comprehensive School.
Morys graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth University is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding Member Institution of the former federal University of Wales. As of late 2006, the university had over 12,000 students spread across seventeen academic departments.The university was founded in 1872 as...
with a degree in Celtic Studies
Celtic Studies
Celtic studies is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to a Celtic people. This ranges from linguistics, literature and art history archaeology and history, the focus lying on the study of the various Celtic languages, living and extinct...
; he also won the inter-collegiate chair whilst at the university. He has worked for BBC Radio Cymru
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC Radio Cymru is BBC Cymru's Welsh-language radio station, broadcasting throughout Wales from studios in Cardiff, Bangor, and Aberystwyth on FM since 1977. At the time of its launch it was one of the few FM-only radio services in the UK...
as a researcher and later as a minstrel
Minstrel
A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...
. Morys later moved to Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, where he lived for ten years and worked as a lecturer at the University of Rennes
University of Rennes
The University of Rennes was a French university located in the city of Rennes. It was established by the union of the 3 faculties of the city in 1885. In 1969, it was divided in two new universities:* the University of Rennes 1...
.
In addition to two volumes of poetry, Twm Morys has written an important body of essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s as columnist for various literary reviews. The son of the writer Jan Morris
Jan Morris
Jan Morris CBE is a Welsh nationalist, historian, author and travel writer. She is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City.With an English mother and Welsh father,...
, he has collaborated with her on two volumes, Wales, the First Place (Random House, 1982), and A Machynlleth
Machynlleth
Machynlleth is a market town in Powys, Wales. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads.Machynlleth was the seat of Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Parliament in 1404, and as such claims to be the "ancient capital of Wales". However, it has never held any official...
Triad/Triawd Machynlleth (Penguin, 1994). Ein Llyw Cyntaf (Gomer, 2001) is his Welsh adaptation of Jan Morris's novel Our First Leader. He won the chair at the 2003 National Eisteddfod
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
for his poem Drysau (Doors).
He also writes for television and radio, as well as lyrics, which he sings with the folk-rock group, Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion
Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion
Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion are a folk-rock group from Wales, singing both in Welsh and Breton.Fronted by the Prifardd Twm Morys, Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion played a major part in the Welsh folk revival of the early 1990s...
.
Twm Morys is the Bardd Plant Cymru (Welsh children's poet laureate) for 2009–2010.
Poetry
- Ofn Fy Het, Barddas (1995)
- Mymryn Bach o Hon (1998)
- 2, Barddas (2002)
Work with Jan Morris
- Wales, the First Place, Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
(1982) - A Machynlleth Triad, PenguinPenguinPenguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...
(1994) - Ein Llyw Cyntaf, Gomer (2001)