News Archive

Gwyn Thomas v Andrew Motion
National Poet of Wales v Poet Laureate of Great Britain

Friday 20 April 2007
Function Room One, Wales Millennium Centre
£6 / £4

Gwyn Thomas the National Poet for Wales and Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, meet on stage for the first time to debate what it is to be an official bard and how national identity plays its part in that role. This lively and never before witnessed discussion will be chaired by a poet who knows the subject only too well, the first National Poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis.

Wales versus England. National Poet versus Poet Laureate. Neighbours from hell or perfect fellow travellers? This is a meeting of two incredible poetic minds that is not to be missed.

Born in Tanygrisiau and raised in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwyn Thomas was educated at Ysgol Sir Ffestiniog, University of Wales, Bangor where he is Professor Emeritus and Jesus College, Oxford. Publishing 16 volumes of poetry over 5 decades– his first, Chwerwder yn y Ffynhonnau (Bitterness in the Fountains, Gwasg Gee) in 1962 and the latest Apocalups Yfory (Apocalypse Tomorrow, Barddas) in 2005 along with translating perhaps the finest English language version of the Mabinogion. On accepting the appointment of National Poet of Wales in 2006 Gwyn said modestly that he hoped to “draw attention to the poets of Wales and their work”.  He has certainly done that.

Andrew Motion was appointed Poet Laureate in May 1999. After reading English at University College, Oxford and teaching at the University of Hull Andrew went on to edit the Poetry Review, become Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus and has recently been appointed Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. His most recent collection of poetry is Public Property (Faber, 2002).  His autobiography In the Blood: A Memoir of My Childhood (Faber) was published in 2006.

Gwyneth Lewis was Wales’ first National Poet. She has published six books of poetry in Welsh and English. Her first collection in English, Parables & Faxes (Bloodaxe, 1995) won the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize and was short–listed for the Forward, as was her second, Zero Gravity (Bloodaxe, 1998). Y Llofrudd Iaith (’The Language Murderer’, Barddas, 2000), won the Welsh Arts Council Book of the Year Prize and Keeping Mum (Bloodaxe, 2003) was short-listed for the same prize in 2004. Chaotic Angels (Bloodaxe, 2005) collects the first three volumes of poetry in English and Tair mewn Un (Barddas, 2005) the first three in Welsh. Gwyneth was responsible for composing the words on the front of Cardiff’s new Wales Millennium Centre opened in November 2004. She is one of the poets in the Poetry Book Society’s Next Generation promotion and recently won a major Creative Wales Award.

For more information on this must see BayLit event contact Academi on 029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org.

To book your tickets call the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Audience Line on 08700 131812.