Caradog Prichard
Caradog Prichard (3 November 1904 – 25 February 1980) was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh.[1] His daughter, Mari Prichard, was married to the late Humphrey Carpenter.
Caradog Prichard was born and grew up in the Gwynedd slate-quarrying town of Bethesda, in north-west Wales. His father died when he was a baby, and his mother suffered from mental illness.[2] Prichard began his career as a journalist with Welsh language newspapers in Caernarfon, Llanrwst and Cardiff, before moving to London, where he spent much of his life.
Un Nos Ola Leuad
[edit]His best-known work is Un Nos Ola Leuad (1961), set in a mythologically subversive version of his native area.[3] The novel was made into a film in 1991 by the Gaucho Company.
Translations of the novel
[edit]- Full Moon 1973 (English) partial translation by Menna Gallie (translated from Prichard's Welsh)
- Une nuit de pleine lune 1990 (French) (translated from Prichard's Welsh)
- One Moonlit Night 1995 (English) full translation by Philip Mitchell. (translated from Prichard's Welsh)
- Za úplnku (Czech) (translated from Philip Mitchell's English translation)
- Una noche de luna (Spanish) (translated from Philip Mitchell's English translation)
- In einer mondhellen Nacht (German) (translated from Philip Mitchell's English translation)
- Mia núhta me fengári (Greek) (translated from Philip Mitchell's English translation)
- In de maneschijn (Dutch) (translated from Philip Mitchell's English translation)
- En manelys nat (Danish) (translated from Philip Mitchell's English translation)
- Jedna księżycowa noc 2017 (Polish) translation from Welsh by Marta Listewnik
Radio broadcasts
[edit]Following the success of his English translation, Philip Mitchell was commissioned by the BBC to adapt the book for broadcast in English as a radio play and this was transmitted as 'One Moonlit Night' in Radio 4's 'Afternoon Play' series on 28 March 1996.
In June 2023 a dramatisation by Rhiannon Boyle was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and a Welsh version broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru later in the month. [1]
Poetry and other works
[edit]In addition to Un Nos Ola Leuad, he also wrote a number of short stories, Y Genod yn Ein Bywyd (1964), and a striking semi-fictional autobiography, Afal Drwg Adda (1973). He had made his mark as a poet at an early age and was crowned Bard of the National Eisteddfod three years running between 1927 and 1929.[4] He also won the chair at the Llanelli National Eisteddfod in 1962 for his poem Llef un yn Llefain.[5] At their best his poems are as powerful and disturbing as Un Nos Ola Leuad. His published collections of verse are:
- Canu Cynnar (1937)
- Tantalus (1957)
- Llef Un yn Llefain (1963)
A full collected edition of his poems was published in 1979.
References
[edit]- ^ BBC Gogledd Orllewin - "Awdur Un Nos Ola Leuad ac enillydd tair coron a chadair Eisteddfodol" (Welsh). Retrieved 30 January 2014
- ^ Publishers' Weekly, "One Moonlit Night", 2 February 1997.Retrieved 30 January 2014
- ^ Wales Online - "Remembering Caradog Prichard in three S4C shows", 26 November 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2014
- ^ Tamworth Herlald, 10 August 1929
- ^ "Dictionary of Welsh Biography". Retrieved 15 January 2016.
