Caradog Prichard (3 November 1904 – 25 February 1980) was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh.[1] 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. His father died when he was a baby, and his mother suffered from mental illness.[2] 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.
His best-known work is Un Nos Ola Leuad (1961), set in a mythologically subversive version of his native area.[3] The novel was made into a film in 1991 by the Gaucho Company.
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 28 March 1996.
In June 2023 a dramatisation by Rhiannon Boyle was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and a Welsh version broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru later in the month. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mm2g
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 was crowned Bard of the National Eisteddfod three years running between 1927 and 1929.[4] He also won the chair at the Llanelli National Eisteddfod in 1962 for his poem Llef un yn Llefain.[5] At their best his poems are as powerful and disturbing as Un Nos Ola Leuad. His published collections of verse are:
A full collected edition of his poems was published in 1979.