Grace Roberts from Felinheli, Gwynedd is the winner of the Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod Daniel Owen Memorial Prize, announced during a special ceremony on the Pavilion stage on Tuesday 3 August.
3 novels were received in this year’s competition, and Spot y ci’s novel was chosen by judges, Gareth Miles, Jane Edwards and Alwena Williams. This year’s Daniel Owen Memorial Prize is presented for an unpublished novel with a strong storyline of no less than 50,000 words.
Born in Pensarn, Anglesey and educated at Pensarn Primary School and Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones, Amlwch, Grace Roberts graduated in Welsh from Bangor University. She has lived in Y Felinheli for eight years, after twenty years living in Nefyn and a year spent living in Mold. She worked as a librarian for ten years, and after a period as a full time wife and mother to Dennis, Gronw and Endaf, she rediscovered her interest in writing. She won the Eisteddfod Môn Prose Medal in 1988, and she was also successful in the National Eisteddfod’s short story competition three times. She worked as a scriptwriter for popular Welsh soap, Pobol y Cwm, for ten years.
She published a volume of her radio musings, (Sgyrsiau Hogiau yn Bennaf), a volume of short stories, (Dyddiau Teisen Bwdin), and two novels, (Rhodd o Ferch a Drysfa). She also published stories and articles in magazines and other collections. During a period of mental illness, when she felt unable to write creatively, she began tracing her family’s history, including the life of the Anglo-Welsh novelist, Megan Glyn. She has now managed to write again. Allowing the current novel to run wildly to the fantasy world of happy ever after was the most fun – and the best therapy – ever!
She was unable to write for around five years due to depression and a nervous breakdown, but even during this time, the characters were tossing and turning in her head, keeping her company as she stared out at the Menai Straits, although she felt unable to write. These same characters form the basis of this novel, which follows three generations of women in the same family. Megan, is a 70 year old widow, her daughter, Rhiannon, is a 40 year old single mother, and Eira Mai, the 17 year old grand-daughter is still at school, and a pupil of Llion Oliver, the new drama teacher.
The novel explores their relationships with society’s attitudes towards sex at different periods over the past sixty years as a background. Also in the background is the chaos theory, with Megan trying to make sense of her own life and her family’s life in light of the theory. There are elements of real life here, but as the novel was written almost as a therapy to rid herself of depression, there is also an element of fantasy in real life. And a happy ending of course – or is it…?
Grace Roberts received a medal, a financial prize of £5,000 and the first copy of the winning novel. The novel will be available to buy from shops on the Maes and across Wales from today onwards.
The festival attracts around 160,000 visitors every year, and is a travelling festival which alternates between north and south Wales. Entry to all daytime activities is free of charge for the price of a daily Maes ticket.
The Eisteddfod receives a grant from the Welsh Assembly Government through the Welsh Language Board. The Eisteddfod also receives funding from unitary authorities in Wales through its partnership with the Welsh Local Government Association. This year’s festival has received £300,000 from the Heads of the Valleys Regeneration Programme, to enable the Eisteddfod to visit the Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys area.
The Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod is held in The Works, Ebbw Vale until 7 August. The Maes is convenient for visitors from all parts of Wales, with easy transport links from all main routes and regular public transport access. Shuttle buses will run all day and evening from the car parks on the Rassau Industrial Estate and Cwm to the Maes, and buses will also run from the train station to the Maes.
