Islwyn Ffowc Elis

Who was Islwyn Ffowc Elis?

Islwyn Ffowc Elis was one of Wales's most popular Welsh-language writers.

Born Islwyn Ffoulkes Ellis in Wrexham, Elis was educated at the University of Wales colleges of Bangor and Aberystwyth. During World War II he was a conscientious objector and he began writing poetry and prose, winning the crown at the 1947 National Eisteddfod. He became a Presbyterian minister in 1950, and his first pastorate was at Moreia Chapel in Llanfair Caereinion. He made his debut as a novelist in 1953 with Cysgod y Cryman, which would, in 1999, be chosen as the most significant Welsh language book of the 20th century.

As a novelist Elis showed a great willingness to try out different forms, including popular ones. Cysgod y Cryman was followed by a study of intellectual decadence, Ffenestri tua'r Gwyll. Yn ôl i Leifior was a sequel to Cysgod y Cryman both set at the fictitious farming location Lleifior. In 1957, the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru published his time-travel story Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd, presenting an independent, utopian Wales and a dystopian "Western England" in alternative versions of 2033. Blas y Cynfyd was followed by the colonial satire Tabyrddau'r Babongo. He thus pioneered the use of genres unfamiliar to Welsh-speaking readers, provided them with a highly readable prose often set in contemporary settings, and did much to establish the position of the novel as a major genre in Welsh-language literature. For periods he set out to live off his writing, something hardly attempted before in modern Welsh.