Elin Ap Hywel

Elin Ap Hywel received Welsh as her native language when she was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. She learned English only after she and her family moved to London in the late 1960s. The family later moved back to Wales, but the tension between the two languages has continued to influence her poetry.

Her publications include Pethau Brau (Y Lolfa, 1982), Ffiniau / Borders (Gomer, 2002), and she has edited two collections of Welsh women’s short stories in English for Honno: Luminous and Forlorn (1994), and Power (1998).

Her latest publication, Dal i Fod (‘Still Here’, Barddas, 2020) comprises all her poems in the Welsh language. They reflect themes of history, family and personal experiences in a style that encompasses the lyrical, provocative and ironic.


'There is hope in the poems of Elin ap Hywel, for a less frightened Wales, for a less fragile Welshness, and for things that are broken, by repairing them, to be made better.' Elan Grug Muse, (c) The Books Council of Wales.

Elin ap Hywel has worked as an editor for Welsh Women’s Press and other publishers.  Her own work has been translated into Bulgarian, Galician, Italian, Japanese and  Dutch.

[first published in 2002, updated November 11, 2020] Pethau Brau (Y Lolfa, 1982)
Luminous and Forlorn: Contemporary Short Stories by Women from Wales (Honno, 1994)
Power: An Anthology of Short Stories by Women from Wales (Honno, 1998)
Ffiniau/Borders (Gomer, 2002)
Dal i Fod (Barddas, 2020)