Meleri Wyn James wins this year's Prose Medal

The subject of this year's competition was a volume of creative prose of no more than 40,000 words on the subject 'Porth'. The adjudicators were Menna Baines, Lleucu Roberts and Ion Thomas. The Medal and the cash prize of £750, are presented in memory of Robyn and Gwenan Léwis by the family.

Delivering the adjudication from the stage on behalf of her fellow judges, Menna Baines said, "'Porth' is a subject with wide possibilities, and it was interesting to see the different reactions of the competitors. 

"It’s true to say that there’s a big difference between the best and the weakest in this year's competition. But it’s also true that we enjoyed something in most of the works and it is good to be able to say that the standard of the best work is high. As our three individual adjudications are available in the Cyfansoddiadau, we’ll focus here this afternoon on the works that made a special impression on the three of us.

"'Porth' by Merch y Wendon Hallt. Here we have a playful work, and its content, as Ion noticed, is very Welsh and eisteddfodol! The narrator, Siwan, is an Eisteddfod judge - a judge in a story writing competition at the Llŷn and Eifionydd Eisteddfod! When reading the stories, Siwan records her impressions in a notebook. And through that we also get to know Siwan herself - her experiences as a girl growing up in Llŷn, then spreading her wings as a student before returning to the peninsula, getting married and becoming a mother. We get a look at rural Welsh society today and a woman’s place. There is hilarity and sharp satire, including the occasional kick to the Welsh literary world.

"’Trothwy’ by Teithiwr. This is a collection of short stories. Three of them describe the experiences of an asylum seeker, a pregnant young woman, as she arrived in this country and was immediately driven to Cardiff. Cardiff is also the setting for most of the other stories, about other people. We particularly liked the way characters from some of the stories reappear on the fringes of other stories. The effect of all this, as Lleucu says, creates "a civic panorama of people, weaving through each other, each with their own story". As well as showing deep sympathy for people, Teithiwr is a keen social commentator, a skilled storyteller who knows the value of refraining. It’s true that there are a few weak spots, but overall this is an excellent collection.

"There’s one work left, 'Hallt' by Fi a Ti. A novel about a mother and her 16-year-old daughter with special needs. The 'porth' here is the threshold between the world of a child and the world of an adult. The story is told by Elen, the mother, and Cari, the daughter, alternately. As Cari matures physically and meets new people including a boy, Elen and her husband's dilemma is how much freedom to allow her. This is a gripping story from the beginning building to a dramatic climax. The portrait of Cari is a lovely one. Yes, there is a certain inherent awkwardness related to her which makes socialising difficult, but gradually we come to see past that to her affection and her honest, open nature. Sometimes, indeed, her honesty wears us down. Like every young person she looks to the future and like every parent her mother has to learn to let go.

"Merch y Wendon Hallt, Teithiwr and Fi a Ti are very skilled writers. But when we discussed and renegotiated, the work we kept coming back to was Fi a Ti’s novel - this simple but layered novel about a mother and daughter relationship and about accepting people as they are. A beautiful, tender and finished novel. An uplifting novel too. Fi a Ti wins this year’s Prose Medal."

Meleri Wyn James is a writer and creative editor for Y Lolfa. She has published books for children, young people and adults. She is the author of the popular children’s series Na, Nel! for children, as well as the two shows Na, Nel! which was staged at the Ceredigion National Eisteddfod Pavilion in Tregaron last year and in the Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod this year. She loves to read and write and enjoys going to schools, festivals and eisteddfodau to stimulate children and young people to read and to use their imagination.

She was born and brought up in Llandeilo and the family moved to Beulah near Newcastle Emlyn and then to Aberporth. She graduated in Welsh from Aberystwyth University and studied an MA in Creative Writing at Trinity College, Carmarthen. She published her first book, a collection of short stories called Mwydyn yn yr Afal, after winning the Urdd Eisteddfod Literature Medal in Taf Elái in 1991. In recent years, she published the novel Blaidd wrth y Drws for adults and Cors Caron, a novel for young people.

She has lived in Aberystwyth for over twenty years with her husband, Sion Ilar and their daughters, Mia Seren and Esther Alys. Meleri and Sion manage holiday accommodation called Cae Bach and use it to support other local businesses. She is a member of Aberystwyth Athletics Club, and thanks to the support of her fellow runners in the club she has completed several half marathons. 

She enjoys riding horses along the lands of Cwm Rheidol in the company of her daughters. She is very interested in fashion and she likes to sew clothes. She also enjoys socialising with family and friends.

She started writing the novel Hallt immediately after the Ceredigion National Eisteddfod with the intention of trying to give a voice to children and parents who live with challenges and all the pleasure of navigating life's journey with additional needs.

The full adjudication will be available in the Cyfansoddiadau a Beirniadaethau, published at the end of the Chairing Ceremony on Friday afternoon.  Meleri’s winning volume will be available to buy at the end of this ceremony.

The Llŷn ac Eifionydd National Eisteddfod lasts until Saturday 12 August. For more information go online, www.eisteddfod.wales.