Caradog Prichard

Caradog Prichard (November 3, 1904 - February 25, 1980) was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh. His daughter, Mari Prichard, was married to the late Humphrey Carpenter.

Caradog Prichard was born and grew up in the Gwynedd slate-quarrying town of Bethesda, in north-west Wales. Prichard began his career as a journalist with Welsh language newspapers in Caernarfon, Llanrwst and Cardiff, before moving to London, where he spent much of his life.

Un Nos Ola Leuad

His best-known work is Un Nos Ola Leuad (1961), set in a mythologically subversive version of his native area. The novel was made into a film in 1991 by the Gaucho Company.

Translations of the novel

• Full Moon 1973 (English) partial translation by Menna Gallie
• Une Nuit de Pleine Lune 1990 (French}
• One Moonlit Night 1995 (English) by Philip Mitchell. This was the first FULL English translation of the novel and it is from this universally acclaimed translation that subsequent translations into other languages were produced.
• Za úplnku (Czech)
• Una Noche de Luna (Spanish)
• In einer mondhellen Nacht (German)
• Mia vuxta me feggapi Groeg (Greek)
• In de maneschijn Iseldi(Dutch)
• En manelys nat (Danish)

Radio broadcasts

Following the success of his English translation, Philip Mitchell was commissioned by the BBC to adapt the book for broadcast in English as a radio play and this was transmitted as 'One Moonlit Night' in Radio 4's 'Afternoon Play' series on 28th March 1996.

Poetry and other works

In addition to Un Nos Ola Leuad, he also wrote a number of short stories, Y Genod yn Ein Bywyd (1964) and a striking semi-fictional autobiography, Afal Drwg Adda (1973). He had made his mark as a poet at an early age and won the Crown in the National Eisteddfod in 1927. At their best his poems are as powerful and disturbing as Un Nos Ola Leuad. His published collections of verse are:

• Canu Cynnar (1937)
• Tantalus (1957)
• Llef Un yn Llefain (1963)

A full collected edition of his poems was published in 1979.

Trivia

Caradog Prichard is also the villain of the fourth book of Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, The Grey King. He is, like his namesake, a poet, but his neighbours believe him insane—the dual legacy of his night on Cadair Idris.