List Of Writers

BAIGENT, BERYL

“Cartref”, 137 Bryon Avenue, Thamesford, Ontario, NOM 2MO, Canada
Telephone: (519) 285 – 2441
Email: berylbaigent@yahoo.ca

Poet, essayist, reviewer, and writer of articles specializing in Health Issues, Celtic Myth and History, and Women’s Spirituality.

Born in the small mining village of Llay, near Wrexham, North Wales in 1937, Beryl attended Grove Park Girls Grammar School, Wrexham. Beryl’s father, Edmund Ivor Jones, was born in Brymbo, North Wales and sang in Welsh choirs all his life. Beryl credits him with her strong connection to all things Welsh, including her love of poetry. She returns “home” every year to visit family and friends even though she has lived in Canada with her Canadian husband, three daughters, and now five grandchildren since 1963. Many of her poems and themes in her twelve books of poetry relate to imagery gleaned and cherished from her Celtic background.

Beryl attended the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario and gained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Physical Education, and a Master of Arts Degree in English Literature. She is a long-standing member of the League of Canadian Poets and a former two-term Ontario representative for this group.  She is also a former director of the Canadian Poetry Association.

Beryl has been a teacher in Continued Adult Education for 38 years and is presently teaching T’ai Chi form and philosophy, Sacred Dance, Yoga, and occasionally, creative writing classes. She is the author of twelve books of poetry, a book on stress management, and a book on T’ai Chi form and philosophy.

Beryl’s most recent volume of poetry, And a Branch Shall Grow: The Irish Connection, contains over two hundred plus poems tracing the lives of seven generations of woman in her family, from Ireland, through England and Wales to Canada over a two hundred year period. Her work in progress which had its first audience in Wales in June 2007, is tentatively titled In Praise of Darkness, and is partially inspired by trips to Bardsey Island, Iona, and Ynys Mon, along with memories of the “coal” days in North Wales. 

Tapes of her poetry and also of relaxation, meditations, and Gentle Yoga asanas are available.  Her portrait was painted by Canadian artist Alan Dayton in 1991 as part of a series on Canadian Writers called “Figures of Speech.”

Selected Publications:
Ancestral Dreams (Third Eye, 1982)
Sacred Dance: Notes on Symbolism, History and Performance (Self published, 1985)
Mystic Animals (Third Eye, 1988)
Absorbing the Dark (Moonstone Press, 1990)
Undress Stress: The Biomechanical Pathways of Stress Management (Third Eye, 1991)
Hiraeth: In Search of Celtic Origins (Third Eye, 1994)
Triptych: Virgins, Victims and Votives (Moonstone Press, 1996)
Celtic Tree Calendar: Poem Cycle (Third Eye, 1999)
The Mary Poems (Cranberry Tree Press, 2000)
T’ai Chi  Flowing Towards Peace: Form, Symbolism, Creative Interpretation (Self published, 2004)
And A Branch Shall Grow: The Irish Connection (Third Eye Publications, 2006)