Fflur Dafydd

Early life

Born in 1978, she is the daughter of Welsh poet Menna Elfyn. Dafydd grew up in Llandysul, a Welsh-speaking community, and although she received the majority of her education in Welsh, she chose to study English in higher education. She graduated in English from Aberystwyth University, and it was while she was here that she first came to prominence as a student in 1999, when she won the Literature Medal at the Urdd National Eisteddfod at Lampeter. This success led to the publication of Y Gwir Am Gelwydd (The Truth About Lies), a collection of 12 poems and five short stories.

After graduating from Aberystwyth she gained an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in 2000, followed by a PhD on the poetry of R. S. Thomas from Bangor University in 2001.

Today Dafydd is successful in the different fields of literature and contemporary music, such that some people have failed to realise that this is one and the same person. She lives in Carmarthen, but travels widely with her work.

Writer

Dafydd has written for stage, screen and radio, and her wide repertoire includes short fiction, journalism, lecturing, songwriting, screenwriting, poetry, novels, plays and short films.

She was nominated for a D. M. Davies award at the Cardiff International Film Festival for her short film "Bathtime" (2002).

In 2005 her first novel Lliwiau Liw Nos (Colours by Night) was published and short-listed for the Prose Medal. It was followed in 2006 by her second novel Atyniad (Attraction), which won the Prose Medal at the National Eisteddfod in Swansea.

In 2005 she was selected for the Scritture Giovani project for emerging European writers. She has also undertaken literary residencies in Helsinki (2006) and on Bardsey Island (2002).

In 2008 she published her first English novel, Twenty Thousand Saints, inspired by her six-week experience as a writer-in-residence on Bardsey in 2002. Regarding her choice of language, she said, "It started out as a translation of a Welsh-language novel, and after about a year or so, I decided that it really wasn't working – so I decided to start from scratch with a completely different story." This work won for her the Oxfam Hay Award.

In 2009 she won the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize for her novel Y Llyfrgell (The Library). In the same year, she was a participant in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

She regularly publishes in a wide variety of publications: New Welsh Review, Welsh Writing in English Yearbook, Barn, Golwg and Planet. For some years has been Editor of the periodical "Tu Chwith".

Fflur has taught film theory and scriptwriting at the University of Aberystwyth and Trinity College Carmarthen, and her scriptwriting has included work for the popular S4C series "Pobol y Cwm".

She currently lectures in creative writing at Swansea University, and is finishing her latest novel, Fflur is also a television columnist for the Western Mail, and features weekly in the weekender magazine.

Musician

Fflur herself describes her sound as "a fusion of blues, soul and pop"

She has released five albums to date:

She emerged as a solo artist in 2005, although is supported by her regular band, Y Barf (The Beard) who, along with Fflur on guitar and piano, comprises core members Rhys 'Y Barf' James (guitar), Iestyn Jones (bass), Jon Bradford Jones (drums), and Iwan 'Llangain' Evans (keyboard & sax).

As a singer-songwriter Fflur has performed in many countries round the world, and performs regularly in literary and music festivals and events throughout Wales, including larger events such as the National Eisteddfod and the Faenol Festival.