I have some very exciting news for you regarding Advanced Content!
One of Wales’ best loved and most successful authors and playwright Manon Steffan Ros is going to become a regular contributor to SSi’s Advanced Content!
Manon Steffan Ros was brought up in the village of Rhiwlas near Bangor and now lives in Tywyn, Meirionnydd, with her sons. After leaving school, she worked as an actress for a few years before becoming a writer.
She has won the drama prize at the Eisteddfod twice in 2005 and 2006, and her play, Mwgsi, won a National Theatre Wales award in 2018.
Her first novel for adults Fel Aderyn, reached the shortlist for wales Book of the Year 2010 and her novel Blasu won the Fiction Prize of the 2013 Wales Book of the Year. Ros translated Blasu into English with the title The Seasoning and was published by Honno in 2015.
As well as her books for adults, Ros has found great acclaim in her children’s writing. She has won the prestigious Tir Na N-Og prize for Welsh children’s literature four times, with her novels Trwy’r Tonnau (2010), Prism (2012), Pluen (2017) and Fi a Joe Allen (2019) – all published by Y Lolfa.
Her third novel for adults, Llanw (y Lolfa, 2014), tells the story of Llanw, a young girl lives with Gorwel, her twin, and their grandmother in a cottage in a small coastal village in mid-Wales. The Second World War throws its shadow on the family, as Gorwel’s decision has a detrimental effect on Llanw’s life.
Llyfr Glas Nebo, won the Prose Medal at the 2018 Eisteddfod and won the triple crown of prizes at the 2019 Wales Book of the Year Award: the Aberystwyth University Fiction Award, the Golwg360 Barn y Bobl (People’s Choice Award) and the Welsh-language Overall Winner. Watch Manon discuss and read from her novel, Llyfr Glas Nebo, here. The novel was adapted into a stage play by Manon Steffan Ros with Elgan Rhys, one of the directors of Frân Wen theatre company, and the production toured theaters across Wales in early 2020.
Manon Steffan Ros was included in the literary magazine Words Without Borders’ Welsh-language issue. You can read the opening chapter of Llyfr Glas Nebo, translated into English by the author herself, here. The novel has already been translated into Polish, Catalan and Spanish.
Her latest novel for adults, Llechi, was published by Y Lolfa in 2021, which is a raw, emotional story, following a group of Gwenno’s friends after she is murdered at the age of 16. Secrets about Gwenno and her family’s lives come to the surface, and several twists are revealed as we discover what led to her death.
Since the above article was written, Llyfr Glas Nebo has been translated in to many more languages. It is now available in English, Polish, Catalan, Spanish, French, Arabic with two more languages on the way!
