Llŷr Gwyn Lewis announced as guest speaker for the 2022 Sir Thomas Parry-Williams Memorial Lecture

The guest speaker for the 2022 Sir Thomas Parry-Williams Memorial Lecture is Llŷr Gwyn Lewis.

The University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtis Studies will host the Sir Thomas Parry-Williams Memorial Lecture on 28 April 2022. Llŷr Gwyn Lewis spent time as a lecturer at Swansea and Cardiff universities, and currently he is working on an edition of selected poems by T. Gwynn Jones with Cyhoedddiadau Barddas. He lives in Cardiff with Lowri, Math and Gwern. Llŷr’s latest volume of poetry was published during lockdown, Rhwng Dwy Lein Drên.     

The lecture will be entitled '"Nodau Annaearoldeb" T. H. Parry-Williams a thu hwnt'.

Llŷr Gwyn Lewis said, ‘In the lecture I will revisit the (Freudian) concept of the unheimlich or the unearthly by exploring some of the works of T. H. Parry-Williams, our 'unearthly' Welsh poet par excellence. Broadly speaking, the unheimlich can be described as the experience of encountering the unfamiliar and the unknown suddenly at the very heart of the familiar and the customary, and that’s what makes it frightening. I will focus initially on Parry-Williams's Oerddwr poems and literary essays as the main locus of the unearthly in his work, and on the relationship of the unheimlich with locality, land and home, also looking at some of his later essays that seem to do something different, more political with the unearthly.

I will then consider some challenges and suggestions offered to the latest generation of poets by critics such as Simon Brooks and Robin Chapman, who have asked questions about the direction and style of Welsh poetry today. Through a case study of Guto Dafydd's work, I will ask whether the unearthly can offer us different directions and different poetics to us in the twenty-first century.’

This year the event is held in collaboration with O’r Pedwar Gwynt literary magazine. Professor Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Director of the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, said ‘We are delighted to collaborate with O'r Pedwar Gwynt and look forward to hearing Dr Llŷr Gwyn Lewis deliver the lecture.’

This is a Welsh language lecture.

The lecture will be held live in the Old Hall, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, and online via Zoom, at 5.00pm on 28 April.

This is a free event. Guests are requested to book in advance if they wish to attend the lecture in the Old Hall. Tea will be served at 4:30pm. Email cawcs@wales.ac.uk

To join online, please register here for the Zoom link: https://tocyn.cymru/cy/event/542e5d8f-095e-4b79-bd00-bca48d5e8fa9   

A warm welcome to all!

Note to Editor

Contact: Dr Angharad Elias (Admin Officer) a.elias@wales.ac.uk

1. The Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS) was established by the University of Wales in 1985 as a dedicated research centre conducting team-based projects on the languages, literatures, culture and history of Wales and the other Celtic countries. It is located in Aberystwyth, adjacent to the National Library of Wales, which is an internationally-renowned copyright library with excellent research facilities.

2. CAWCS offers unique opportunities for postgraduate students to work alongside specialists in a dynamic and supportive environment. We welcome enquiries about MPhil/PhD topics in any of our research areas. For more information about research opportunities, or for an informal chat about possible topics, contact our Head of Graduate Studies, Dr Elizabeth Edwards: e.edwards@wales.ac.uk

3. CAWCS is the home of the Dictionary of the Welsh Language, which is celebrated its centenary in 2021: https://www.welsh-dictionary.ac.uk/ 

Further Information

For more information please contact Arwel Lloyd, Principal PR and Communications Officer, on 01267 676663 / arwel.lloyd@uwtsd.ac.uk