Eluned Phillips

Eluned Phillips (27 October 1914 – 10 January 2009) was the only woman to win the bardic crown at the National Eisteddfod of Wales twice, a feat she accomplished in 1967 at Bala and 1983 at Llangefni.^[1]

Phillips was born in Cenarth, on the same day that Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea. She knew Thomas well, but did not number him among her close friends.^[2] Her friends included Augustus John and Edith Piaf. It has been said that Pablo Picasso showed her the original of "Guernica" shortly after he completed it.^[3]

She died of pneumonia, aged 94, at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen. At the time of her death she was the oldest member of the Gorsedd of Bards.

Works

• Dewi Emrys (1971)
• Cerddi Glyn-y-Mêl (1985)
• The Reluctant Redhead (2007) (memoirs)

References

1. BBC Wales
2. Newstin
3. "Eluned Phillips: The only woman poet to have won the National Eisteddfod's Crown twice", The Independent obituary, 13 February 2009. Accessed 19 August 2015