Award winning poet nominated for position of Archdruid

Award-winning poet Mererid Hopwood has been nominated for the position of Archdruid for the period from 2024-27.

Her nomination was confirmed today at the Proclamation Ceremony of the Rhondda Cynon Taf National Eisteddfod which is being held next year.

She will now be presented to the general meeting of the Gorsedd Board which will be held during the week of this year’s National Eisteddfod.

The Archdruid is head of the Gorsedd of the Bards and is elected for a term of three years.

The incumbent is responsible for conducting the Gorsedd ceremonies during Eisteddfod week.

Mererid is best known to the Eisteddfod audience as the first woman to win the Eisteddfod Chair, at the Denbighshire Eisteddfod in 2001.

She is one of a select group of poets and writers who have bridged the gap between poetry and prose, winning the Chair, the Crown and the Prose Medal.

Her collection of poems, Nes Draw, won the Book of the Year poetry award in 2016.

Awards

She served as the Welsh-language Children’s Laureate and received the Tir na nÓg award for one of her novels for children in 2018.

She is one of the honorary presidents of the Waldo Williams Society. In her work, she is Professor in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University and is also the secretary of the Welsh Peace Academy.

Born in Cardiff, she was educated at Ysgol Llanhari, which lies within the 2024 Eisteddfod catchment area, the area where she will begin officiating as Archdruid.

The Chairing Ceremony at the Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod will be current Archdruid, Myrddin ap Dafydd’s final ceremony.

The Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod is held in Boduan from 5-12 August this year, and the 2024 Eisteddfod is held in Rhondda Cynon Taf from 3-10 August.