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SiCa Presents: Gwyneth Lewis from SiCa on Vimeo.
Gwyneth Lewis reading at SiCa Stanford University 10 November, 2009
Gwyneth is currently Joint SiCa/ Stanford Humanities Center Fellow in the Arts and Humanities at Stanford University
2008 - 2009 Julia S. Phelps Annual Lecture in Art and the Humanities
Gwyneth Lewis gvies a lecture on "The Health of Poetry. A Video of lecture available to watch online.
2008 - 2009 Julia S. Phelps Annual Lecture in Art and the Humanities
http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar_2008lewis.aspx
Gwyneth Lewis reads two poems
Gwyneth Lewis from Neil Astley on Vimeo.
Gwyneth Lewis reads two poems from Chaotic Angels: Poems in English (Bloodaxe Books, 2005), 'Welsh Espionage' [5] and 'Mother Tongue'. This film is from the DVD-book In Person: 30 Poets, filmed by Pamela Robertson-Pearce & edited by Neil Astley (Bloodaxe Books, 2008).
Wales Appoints Its First National Poet
Press Release - Academi, 30 April, 2005
The United Kingdom has a Poet Laureate. Scotland has its Maker. Most states in the US have state poets. Canada has a Poet Laureate. In the USA there’s a Poet Laureate Consultant. Now, after a six year campaign, Wales appoints its first National Poet.
Gwyneth Lewis, author of the world’s biggest poem (the Wales Millennium Centre bi-lingual inscription), NESTA fellow (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), author of six books of poems in two languages, a Book of the Year winner, librettist, sailor, and probably Wales’ best known poet since R S Thomas will be inaugurated as our first National Poet at a special 2.30 pm event at the Hay Literature Festival on May 30th this year.
The appointment of the first National Poet of Wales is made possible by direct funding from the Arts Council of Wales. The appointment is for one year with an option to renew for a second and will be administered by Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society of Writers.
Gwyneth Lewis was the unanimous choice for National Poet made by a group advising the Academi at a meeting in Cardiff recently. Members of this group include the National Eisteddfod, the National Library, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Culture committee, the Arts Council of Wales, Yr Gymdeithas Gerdd Dafod, Ty Newydd, the Dylan Thomas Centre, the University of Glamorgan and the Association for the Study of Welsh Writing in English.
Wales has a long tradition of valuing highly its poets with the creation of a Bardd Plant Cymru (a Welsh Children’s Poet) each year and the chairing and crowning of poets at the annual National Eisteddfod. The National Poet, however, will be the first post which will serve Wales on a national basis and do this through both languages.
The National Poet will act as a cultural ambassador for Wales - marking and celebrating our lives through verse. She will take poetry into places it may not normally go in both the public and private area. Unlike England’s Poet Laureate Wales’s national Poet will not be required to write verse for specific formal occasions but will, instead, follow her inspiration. Gwyneth Lewis has already written a poem on Wales’ Grand Slam Victory and an elegy for Gwynfor Evans.
Gwyneth Lewis said: "It's a huge privilege to be representing poetry in Wales, where we have a poetic tradition stretching back to the sixth century and fully present in the twenty-first." Academi Chief Executive Peter Finch, who has long campaigned for the creation of a National Poet said: "I am delighted that poetry in Wales at last has a national champion. Gwyneth Lewis is the perfect choice." Gwyneth Lewis’s inauguration at the Hay festival will be followed by a series of high profile appearances at public events throughout Wales.
Cymru'n Penodi ei Bardd Cenedlaethol Cyntaf
Datganiad i'r Wasg - Academi, 30ain Ebrill, 2005
Mae gan y Deyrnas Unedig ei Poet Laureate a chan yr Alban ei Makar. Mae gan y rhan fwyaf o daleithiau UDA feirdd taleithiol. Yng Nghanada mae ganddynt fardd llawryfog ac yn UDA mae Bardd Llawryfog Ymgynghorol. Ac yn awr, wedi chwe blynedd o ymgyrchu, mae Cymru'n penodi ei Bardd Cenedlaethol cyntaf.
Bydd Gwyneth Lewis, awdur cerdd fwyaf y byd (yr arysgrif ddwyieithog ar Ganolfan Mileniwm Cymru), enillydd un o gymrodoriaethau pwysig NESTA (Y Gwaddoliad Gwladol ar gyfer Gwyddoniaeth, Technoleg a'r Celfyddydau) awdur chwe llyfr o farddoniaeth mewn dwy iaith, enillydd Llyfr y Flwyddyn, libretydd, morwr, a bardd mwyaf adnabyddus Cymru mae'n debyg ers R S Thomas, yn cael ei hurddo'n fardd cenedlaethol cyntaf Cymru mewn digwyddiad arbennig yng Ngwyl y Gelli am 2.30 p.m. ar Fai 30ain eleni.
Mae penodiad Bardd Cenedlaethol cyntaf Cymru yn bosibl o ganlyniad i gyllid uniongyrchol gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru. Penodiad am flwyddyn ydyw ond bydd modd dewis adnewyddu am ail flwyddyn. Gweinyddir y penodiad gan yr Academi, Asiantaeth Genedlaethol er Hyrwyddo Llenyddiaeth a Chymdeithas Llenorion Cymru.
Dewiswyd Gwyneth Lewis yn unfrydol yn Fardd Cenedlaethol mewn cyfarfod yng Nghaerdydd yn ddiweddar gan grwp a oedd yn cynghori'r Academi. Mae aelodau'r grwp hwn yn cynnwys yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol, Pwyllgor Diwylliant Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru, Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, y Gymdeithas Gerdd Dafod, Ty Newydd, Canolfan Dylan Thomas, Prifysgol Morgannwg a'r Gymdeithas dros Astudio Ysgrifennu Cymreig yn Saesneg.
Mae gan Gymru draddodiad hir o werthfawrogi ei beirdd gyda chreu Bardd Plant Cymru bob blwyddyn a chadeirio a choroni beirdd yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol flynyddol. Y Bardd Cenedlaethol, serch hynny, fydd y penodiad cyntaf i wasanaethu Cymru gyfan a gwneud hynny drwy gyfrwng y ddwy iaith.
Bydd y Bardd Cenedlaethol yn gweithredu fel llysgennad diwylliannol i Gymru - gan nodi a dathlu ein bywydau trwy gyfrwng barddoniaeth. Bydd yn mynd â barddoniaeth i lefydd na fyddai fel rheol yn eu cyrraedd yn y maes cyhoeddus a phreifat. Yn wahanol i’r Poet Laureate yn Lloegr, ni fydd gofyn i Fardd cenedlaethol Cymru ysgrifennu barddoniaeth ar gyfer achlysuron ffurfiol penodol. Yn hytrach, bydd yn dilyn ei hawen ei hun. Mae Gwyneth Lewis eisoes wedi ysgrifennu cerdd am Gamp Lawn Cymru a marwnad i Gwynfor Evans.
Meddai Gwyneth Lewis: "Mae’n fraint aruthrol cael cynrychioli barddoniaeth yng Nghymru, lle mae gennym draddodiad barddol sy’n ymestyn yn ôl i’r chweched ganrif ac sy’n dal yn gwbl fyw yn yr unfed ganrif ar hugain." Meddai Prif Weithredwr yr Academi, Peter Finch, sydd wedi ymgyrchu’n hir dros greu Bardd Cenedlaethol: "Rwyf wrth fy modd bod gan farddoniaeth yng Nghymru o’r diwedd ladmerydd cenedlaethol. Gwyneth Lewis yw’r dewis perffaith." Dilynir sefydlu Gwyneth Lewis yng Ngwyl y Gelli gan gyfres o ymddangosiadau amlwg mewn digwyddiadau cyhoeddus ledled Cymru.
Wales Millennium Centre
CREU GWIR FEL GWYDR O FFWRNAIS AWEN
IN THESE STONES HORIZONS SING
I wrote the words to reflect the cultural ambition of the Centre. They draw both on Wales's industrial past and the institution's location in Cardiff Bay, once the greatest coal port in the world. Each letter is six-foot tall and formed of stained glass, set in glass-reinforced gypsum.
Creu Gwir fel Gwydr o Ffwrnais Awen
(Translation: 'Creating truth like glass from inspiration's furnace'.)
I wanted the words to reflect the architecture of the building. Its copper dome reminded me of the furnaces from Wales's industrial heritage and also Ceridwen's cauldron, from which the early poet Taliesin received his inspiration ('awen'). 'Awen' suggests both poetic inspiration and the general creative vision by which people and societies form their aspirations.
The windows out of which the words are made suggest to me an ideal of poetry: that it should be clear enough to let light in and out of a building, offering enough a distinctively local view of the world; it should speak a truth which is transparent, beautifully crafted but also fragile and, therefore, doubly precious.
In these Stones Horizons Sing
It was important to me that the English words on the building should not simply be a translation of the Welsh, that they should have their own message. The strata of the slate frontage of the WMC reminded me of the horizons just beyond Penarth Head. The sea has, traditionally, been for Cardiff the means by which the Welsh export their best to the world and the route by which the world comes to Cardiff. The stones inside the theatre literally sing with opera, musicals and orchestral music, and I wanted to convey the sense of an international space created by the art of music.
Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru
CREU GWIR FEL GWYDR O FFWRNAIS AWEN
IN THESE STONES HORIZONS SING
Cyfansoddais y geiriau ar flaen Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru er mwyn cyfleu uchelgais ddiwylliannol y sefydliad. Fe'm hysbrydolwyd gan orffennol diwydiannol Cymru a chan gofio mai Caerdydd, ar un adeg, oedd prif borthladd glo y byd . Mae llythrennau'r arysgrifen chwe troedfedd o uchder wedi eu creu o wydr lliw a osodwyd mewn gypsum wedi ei gryfhau gan wydr.
Creu Gwir fel Gwydr o Ffwrnais Awen
Roeddwn i'n awyddus i weld yr arysgrifen yn adlewyrchu pensaerniaeth yr adeilad. Roedd cromen gopr y theatr yn fy atgoffa o ffwrneisi gorffennol diwydiannol Cymru, ac hefyd o Bair Ceridwen, crochan lle cafodd y bardd cynnar Taliesin ei awen. Nid yw'r gair 'awen' yn gyfyngedig i ysbrydoliaeth farddonol, ond mae'n cyfeirio hefyd at y weledigaeth greadigol sy'n creu delfrydau cymdeithasol.
Roedd cael y geiriau mewn ffenestri gwydr yn cynnig delwedd o farddoniaeth i mi: dylai fod yn ddigon clir i daflu golau y tu mewn a thu allan i adeilad, yn cynnig golwg hollol neilltuol a lleol ar y byd; dylai ddatgan gwirionedd sydd yn dryloyw, yn grefftus ond hefyd yn fregus, ac yn fwy gwerthfawr o'r herwydd.
In these Stones Horizons Sing
('Gorwelion yn canu o fewn y meini hyn')
Roedd hi'n bwysig i fi nad oedd geiriau Saesneg yr arysgrifen yn gyfieithiad o'r Gymraeg, ond eu bod yn cyfleu eu neges eu hunain. Roedd strata llechi blaen yr adeilad yn gwneud i mi feddwl am y gorwelion ychydig y tu hwnt i Benarth. Bu'r môr yn gyfrwng i Gaerdydd allforio glo i bedwar ban a mewnforio'r byd at y ddinas. Bydd meini'r theatr yn canu'n llythrennol gydag opera, sioeau cerdd a cherddorfeydd, ac roeddwn yn awyddus i gyfleu'r syniad o ystafell enfawr ryngwladol yn cael ei chreu gan gerddoriaeth.
Poet's Odyssey
Gwyneth Lewis, one of the leading British poets of her generation is about to embark on a challenging four-year voyage around the world in a two-handed yacht. During the voyage she will visit the network of ports which were associated with her native Cardiff during its heyday as the largest coal port in the world. The voyage will be the means for Lewis to explore the nature of seamanship, as well as the culture of great port cities around the world and the trade routes which built them.
Gwyneth will be leaving the UK in the summer of 2002 and heading for Spain. Bilbao was where the first iron ore exports went from Cardiff, and the Spanish community which was subsequently established in Wales sent many soldiers to the Spanish Civil War. During the winter, she will move down to Portugal and, in the Spring of 2003, on to the Azores, from where she and her husband plan to cross the Atlantic. From the Caribbean, they will then go through the Panama Canal, into the Pacific, down to Australia and then on towards the Middle East.
Brought up in Cardiff, where her father worked for the Port Health Authority, Lewis has extensive family links with the sea. Her husband was in the Merchant Navy; one cousin was a ship's Master, another is currently a NASA astronaut, having been a jet pilot in the American Navy. Lewis, therefore, developed a fascination with watching the foreign ships entering and leaving the docks in Cardiff. Going to sea has been a lifelong dream. Having bought a 35-foot yacht with her redundancy money, Lewis, who recently passed her Yachtmaster theory exam, is now in a position to realise that dream.
Lewis was recently awarded a prestigious NESTA Fellowship to help with the project. She will also be working in several media to record the journey - poetry and radio among them. She has been commissioned by Flamingo to write a factual prose book on the voyage.