Atyniad

by Fflur Dafydd

Bardsey Island is the main character of this novel - the island whose attraction controls the ebb and flow that are the emotions of the other characters, the inhabitants, the visitors and the writers that visit the island from time to time, searching for an escape, peace and quiet. In the company of such a resident author, we get an insight into the influence of the island on people and their dreams.

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2006

About the author

Fflur Dafydd is a novelist from Carmarthen who publishes in both Welsh and English. Since publishing her first novel, Lliwiau Liw Nos in 2005, she has published six fiction volumes. Two of her Welsh-language novels, Atyniad (Y Lolfa, 2006) and Y Llyfrgell (Y Lolfa, 2009) have been awarded the major fiction awards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the Prose Medal (2006) and the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize (2009), making her the only female writer, and the youngest writer to date to have won both awards. Her first English language novel, Twenty Thousand Saints (Alcemi, 2008) – an innovative reworking and adaptation of the Welsh-language novel, Atyniad, also won the inaugural Oxfam Hay Emerging Writer of the Year Award at the Hay Festival 2009. As a result of these successes, she was chosen by the British Council as the first ever Welsh participant in the prestigious, world-renowned International Writing Program at Iowa University. She also holds an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, a PhD from Bangor University, and currently lectures in Creative Writing at Swansea University.

She is also a prominent singer-songwriter, who has produced 4 albums to date – and she was awarded the title of ‘Female Artist of the Year’ in the BBC Radio Cymru awards in 2010. She performs regularly in Wales and has also appeared in major festivals in America and Europe.

Reviews

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Dyna sut argraff roedd yr ynys yn ei gael ar bobl. Gafael yn rhywun. Toddi’r tir mawr yn ddim. Gwneud i berson gredu mai’r fan hyn oedd yr unig le ar y ddaear a’r unig le i fod. Nad oedd angen dim arall. A doedd hynny ddim i ddweud bod yn rhaid byw heb gariad ychwaith. Ar ynys, onid oedd y bobl ryfeddaf yn ymddangos yn atyniadol?”

*

“Mae’r drws wedi cau’n glep cyn i mi orffen y frawddeg. A dwi’n sylweddoli’n sydyn, nad hwn yw’r dewis anodd, fel y tybiaias, ond hwn yw’r dewis hawdd. Mae hi’n anoddach i garu rhywun nag mae hi i’w wthio i ffwrdd.”

*

leabhar caran neònach. sìmplidh, san t-seagh ’s nach eil mòran ann a thaobh plota per se, ach ioma-fhillte ann an dòigh inntinneach. ’s e a th’ ann ach leabhar a dh’fheuchas ri fàileadh no àrainneachd a chur nar n-aithne — faireachdainn a thogail ’s a bhrosnachadh — seach ri sgeulachd innse, mar gum b’ eadh. chòrd e rium gu ìre mhòr, ged a bha mi ag iarraidh rud beag a bharrachd a thaobh, dìreach, sgeulachd.

bha mi toilichte, cuideachd, leasbaich (no boireannaich dhà-sheòrsach, chan eil e buileach soilleir) fhaicinn mu thràth san dàrna (!) leabhar a tha mi air leughadh sa Chuimris. tha mi ’n dòchas gur e trend a bhios ann a thaobh mo chuid leughaidh.