Meg Elis

Meg Ann Elis (born 26 October 1950), also known as Marged Dafydd, Marged Elis or Margaret Dafydd,^[1] is a Welsh writer, translator and language activist.^[2] She stood unsuccessfully as a Plaid Cymru candidate for the Delyn constituency in the National Assembly for Wales election in 1999 and again in 2007.^[3]

Life and work

Meg Elis was born into a Welsh-speaking family in Aberystwyth,^[1] the daughter of politician T. I. Ellis and his wife, Mari Ellis,^[4] and studied at Bangor University. She was a director of the translation company NEWID ("CHANGE"), and has worked as a Welsh/English translator, journalist and radio producer.

Elis worked as a full-time secretary of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (a direct action pressure group working to defend the Welsh language) in 1973 and 1974. During this time she took part in a 1973 Cymdeithas yr Iaith direct action protest against the television transmitter at Holme Moss, south Pennines in England in 1973. She was taken to court and received a six month suspended sentence. In 1974, Elis was again involved in further Cymdeithas protest action, this time at Aberystwyth Post Office. As a consequence of these actions, in 1975 Elis was sentenced to six months imprisonment at (the now closed) HMP Moor Court, an open prison for women located at Oakamoor, Staffordshire.^[5]

During the 1980s, she was a member of the protest group at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp.^[6]

In 1985, her novel, Cyn Daw'r Gaeaf won the Prose Medal,^[7] one of the major prizes at the National Eisteddfod in Rhyl. Her other works included Carchar and I'r Gad, both published by Y Lolfa.^[8] Her novels have been cited as good examples of the more controversial themes a younger generation of Welsh-language writers dealt with in the 1980s.^[9]