This week, Gomer will publish an important poetry anthology by Menna Elfyn, one of contemporary Wales’ most well-known poets.

For the first time, this latest publication offers a comprehensive anthology of the work of a poet that has played a key role in the development of Welsh poetry over the last thirty-five years and more.

The anthology, entitled Merch Perygl (Gomer £12.99), includes over 150 Welsh-language poems spanning the whole of the poet’s career thus far, from the early poems of the seventies including Mwyara and ‘Stafelloedd Aros, through the eighties and nineties to more recent collections such as the bilingual collection by Bloodaxe Perfect Blemish/Perffaith Nam and the latest collection by Gomer, Er Dy Fod, in 2007.

The anthology, which includes a foreword by editor Elin ap Hywel and a comprehensive introduction by Professor M. Wynn Thomas, is published as the poet celebrates her sixtieth birthday, and as she prepares for this important milestone, the editor can’t think of a more fitting celebration: 

“Menna is a prominent and widely-published poet, and one who travels and communicates tirelessly throughout Wales, Europe and all over the world,” says Elin ap Hywel.  “The idea of pausing for a moment and taking stock of her work was therefore one which appealed to her as a poet, to me as an editor, and to Gomer as publishers.

”The anthology presents the poems thematically, dividing the her work into poems on being a woman, politics and identity, love and passion, nature, people, spirituality and language and the process of writing poetry.

Menna Elfyn said, “One can see the changes, the twists and turns in my careers as a poet as it were, and that’s a good thing.  When I started out, my poems were ‘in the heat of the moment’, raw in terms of craft, but passionate and tumultuous.  In the eighties, my attention turned to children, to having children, losing a child and causes such as the peace movement and the miners’ strike.  In the nineties, I backed away to some extent and there are more poems about travelling, and in the last decade I’ve gone deeper and produced more spiritual work I think.

”Despite her worldwide success, and constant invitations to travel the world promoting new editions in foreign languages, Menna Elfyn, who is also a lecturer on the MA in Creative Writing in English and Welsh at the University of Wales Trinity St David, is adamant that she is a Welsh poet first and foremost, and that’s why this book means so much to her: 

“The aim is to present a manageable collection at an affordable price.  I’m a Welsh poet first and foremost, and I’ll always want to present my work here first.

”Available from your local bookshop or gwales.com, £12.99.Menna Elfyn will be launching the book at:

• Y Drwm, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Thursday, 7 April, 7pm.  Free tickets from the Drwm: 01970 632 548 www.llgc.org.uk/drwm 

• Galeri, Caernarfon Thursday, 14 April at 7pm.  All welcome.• Gŵyl Bedwen Lyfrau in The Gate Arts and Community Centre, Roath, Cardiff Saturday, 7 May.

For further information visit her website www.mennaelfyn.co.uk