Winner: Overall Award & Fiction Award
Sut i Ddofi Corryn, Mari George (Sebra)
This is Muriel’s story, and her heroic journey to try to get a cure for her husband, Ken. As a married couple in their forties, their lives are turned upside down when Ken discovers he is dying of cancer. But the journey starts long before, when a young Muriel – aged thirteen – finds the ancient Book of The Mumbles Spiders …
This novel will take you on an exciting journey as Muriel desperately searches for answers. But first she must face up to her greatest worries and biggest fears, and to do that she’ll need to break free from the tight webs that bind her.
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Mari George is a poet, writer and translator who lives in Bridgend. She has published two volumes of poetry – Y Nos yn Dal yn fy Ngwallt (2004) and Siarad Siafins (2014) – and is a member of the Talwrn Aberhafren oral poetry team. She has also edited several collections of poetry and has written and adapted a number of children’s books. Sut i Ddofi Coryn is her first novel for adults.
Winner: The Poetry Award
Mymryn Rhyddid, Gruffudd Owen (Barddas Publications)
This is a book that oscillates between the profound and the humorous, between cynicism and harshness, and weaves linguistic angst through poems about family, being a father and being Welsh. The poet reckons with the constant pull between his life in Cardiff and his upbringing in Pwllheli, and the ‘God-shaped gap’ that upbringing has left him. But through it all shine sparks of humour and hope; that difficult hope of knowing that – though things may be difficult – we must go on.
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Gruffudd Owen is a poet, playwright and television scriptwriter from Pwllheli. He won the Chair of the National Eisteddfod in 2018 and was the Welsh Children’s Laureate from 2019-2021. Mymryn Rhyddid is his second volume of poems for adults. He lives in Cardiff with his wife and sons.
Winner: Creative Non-fiction Award
Cranogwen, Jane Aaron (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru)
In the Victorian era, women were considered unfit and unable to take part in all forms of public and intellectual leadership. But Cranogwen, or Sarah Jane Rees (1839-1916) from Llangrannog, managed to gain respect and fame as a poet, lecturer, editor, preacher, temperance woman and a spiritual leader for a new generation of writers and public women. The aim of this book is to follow her path in order to understand why and how an unmarried woman from a peasant background rose to such prestige and influence among her Welsh contemporaries. This book also sheds new light on her homosexual love life and her innovative ideas about gender.
Two previous biographical volumes were published in 1932 and in 1981, but since then the growth of the feminist movement has stimulated much study – for example, on female writers and lesbians of the nineteenth century, and on women in maritime communities – which is very relevant to Cranogwen’s history. In the light of all this additional material, this volume provides a new picture of her life and influence.
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Jane Aaron is Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at the University of South Wales; she won two awards for her previous volumes on Welsh women’s literature in the nineteenth century, namely the Ellis Griffith Memorial Award (1999) and the Roland Mathias Award (2009) and she has also published several articles on the subject.
Winner: The Bute Energy Children & Young People Award
Jac a’r Angel, Daf James (Y Lolfa)
Jac and his grandfather live in the small village of Bethlehem, but this year Christmas has been cancelled in their household. So when an angel bursts out of his mother’s advent calendar and offers him a wish, it looks as though his luck might finally be turning. His wish? To star as Mary in his school’s Christmas show.
But, when Christmas begins to disappear all around him and the Haron family start to interfere with his plans, Jac makes a discovery that will rock his world – and Christmas itself – forever.
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Daf James is one of Wales’ most prominent playwrights, screenwriters, composers and performers. Daf not only wrote the groundbreaking plays Llwyth and Tylwyth, but also performed in the musical role of ‘Sue’. His upcoming drama series, Lost Boys & Fairies, will be broadcast on BBC1 in 2024. He lives with his husband and their three children in Cardiff. Jac a’r Angel is his debut novel.
Jac a’r Angel is illustrated by Bethan Mai.
Winner: The Golwg360 People’s Choice Award
Trothwy, Iwan Rhys (Y Lolfa)
In Trothwy, the poet and author Iwan Rhys reflects warmly on crossing various thresholds in his life. The volume uses wit to explore themes of belonging and identity as the main character seeks to finds his place in the world: as a stepfather, as a regular visitor to Berlin and at his local pub in Caernarfon, where he now lives. The author weaves the warmth of family life with international attitudes into a chronicle of a Welshman’s impressions of Berlin and an account of the experiences of a trilingual, multi-national family.
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Iwan Rhys grew up in Porthyrhyd, in the Gwendraeth Valley. He has won the Urdd Eisteddfod Chair, first in 2001 and then again in 2008. He competes in live oral poetry competitions for the Dros yr Aber team in the Talwrn competition and the Southern regions team in the Ymryson competition at the National Eisteddfod. Iwan has previously published a volume of poetry Eleni Mewn Englynion (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch), and a novel Y Bwrdd (Y Lolfa).
Trothwy was shortlisted for the Creative Non-Fiction category.