Dr Rebecca Thomas wins the 2021 Essay Prize of O’r Pedwar Gwynt.

Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Thomas, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of History, Law and Social Sciences, for winning the Essay Prize ofO’r Pedwar Gwynt (in co-operation with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol) for her essay, ‘Cribo’r Dragon’s Back’ (‘Combing the Dragon’s Back’). The award-winning essay will be published in the winter issue ofO’r Pedwar Gwynt that will be published Saturday, 11 December 2021. 

Dr Thomas comments: ‘It is a special honour to win this exciting competition, and it’s so nice to be able to share my first published essay,Cribo’r Dragon’s Back. A walking journey in the Black Mountains is the topic of the essay, and in it, I reflect on the process of changing the language of place names and creating new mythology linked to the landscape. I’m very thankful toO’r Pedwar Gwynt and the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol for giving me the opportunity to experiment with this form of composition, and I’m looking forward very much to continue writing and developing new ideas.’ 

The adjudicators of the competition were Mererid Puw Davies (Professor of German in the London University College), the author and poet Gwyneth Lewis, the author and poetLlŷr Gwyn Lewis and Sioned Puw Rowlands (Editor ofO’r Pedwar Gwynt).  

Says Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, ‘Enjoying mountaineering myself, reading an insightful essay as this was a pleasure. Essayists tend to be drawn to the Rocks of Eryri or the central tops of the Mountains of Brecon, thus it was excellent to be able to climb Waun Fach and Pen y Gadair Fawr with Rebecca. And what company and voice that aims for the less worn-out paths of the mind, by offering a contemporary and sensitive consideration of what was called the co-pennetration of language and land by J R Jones, and a reconsideration also of Waldo Williams’ famous declaration about our mountains: ‘Not one language can erect them, / And place them in their freedom against the firmament of song’. 

Mererid Puw Davies comments on the winning work: ‘The victorious essay takes us to high ground in many ways. On the one hand, it takes us for a walk to the mountains, quite literally. On the other hand, it raises insightful questions about language, about landscape and about change. And dragons.’ 

Says Gwyneth Lewis: ‘The ability to compose a clear, imaginative and original essay is crucial for the future of literature. Practicing the discipline of critically thinking, in order to allow someone to see the world in a fresh and rich way, is part of the dialogue and an essential basis for our politics and our society. It does not matter what the topic is, the journey through the mind is the point, for all of our advantage. This is a very important competition.’ 

Dr Thomas is currently very busy with many projects and in the spring of 2022, her monograph,History and Identity in Early Medieval Wales will be published, as well as her first novel for young adults. 

It is excellent to see an academic from Bangor succeeding in the competition, especially so because of the close links betweenO’r Pedwar Gwynt and the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies of the university. 

We will look forward to reading more of Dr Rebecca Thomas’ work in the near future. 

Publication date: 9 December 2021