‘I’m Welsh — I should speak my own language’: celebrated poet Rhian Elizabeth on returning to Cymraeg

Gosia Buzzanca

On a quiet night toward the end of last year, in the post Christmas lull, Rhian Elizabeth made a decision inspired by family history, identity, language and… a popular TV show, all at once.

The acclaimed Welsh poet, who won both the Poetry Award and the Nation.Cymru People’s Choice Award at Wales Book of the Year 2025 , signed up to learn Welsh.

I saw the post announcing her commitment on social media. Being Rhian’s secret fangirl and a person inherently interested in languages and writing, and someone who had tried — and failed — to learn Welsh in the past, I decided to speak to Rhian about her decision.

“The answer is twofold, she explained.

“I’m Welsh. I should be able to speak my own language.

“This has become more important to me since researching my family tree,” she continued.

“I was bored one night and decided to sign up to ancestry.com. I had been watching Judi Dench on Who Do You Think You Are and she discovered some really fancy people in her lineage, in particular some sort of link to Shakespeare.”

Elizabeth told me how this inspired her to set off on her own quest, expecting to find exciting and perhaps even literary ancestry herself.

“Surely I was related to some famous, gorgeous genius!” she said.

“Nope. All miners. There was someone from Stroud who made shoes. But no poets,” Rhian continued.

The search wasn’t completely in vain however, because it led to Rhian discovering more about her grandmother who she says was her favourite person in the world.

Rhian realised her great grandmother came from Bleanau Ffestiniog and had given up the Welsh language in order to integrate down south.

“I don’t know if she did it willingly or unwillingly, Elizabeth admitted.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m trying to get closer to my grandmother again somehow through learning Welsh, an attempt to tether myself to something that long slipped away from my grasp.”

Outside of being a successful poet, Rhian is currently training to become a counsellor.

As she will be working in Wales, she says it will be important for her not to have to force the Welsh speaking clients to have to communicate with her in English.

“But before I can do that, I’ll have to be extremely good and competent”, she assures.

I asked Rhian about her writing practice, and how — if at all, she thinks it may change now that she is starting to learn a new language.

“A huge part of me feels a bit ashamed to even think about writing in Welsh, like I’d be stepping onto the turf of people who are writing in Welsh now, in their first language, their language, and so beautifully and brilliantly.

“Who am I to think I can just come along and start doing it, all clumsy and bullish and green? I’d feel like a fraud, an imposter.

My language

“But it is my language, isn’t it? I just haven’t had the privilege of being brought up with it.

“I suppose you can never have too many words. I just see it as having more words at my disposal.

“But writing poetry in Welsh will be like counselling in Welsh. Being able to converse and write in serious subjects, you have to be proficient and exact and confident with the language, and I’m terrified of that.

“I don’t know if I will ever have the self-assurance, the desire or the skill to be able to do it.

Rhian, to my surprise, brings up my book next.

“I have not long read your memoir and I’m thinking about you yourself writing in English as opposed to your native Polish.

“To quote you – It was almost as if writing turned out to be language-less. It felt rooted strongly in a place or spirit of its own rather than one created of human-made marks.

“It has given me food for thought,” she concluded.

When I asked Rhian about potentially translating her own work into Cymraeg she brushed it off.

“I have just had one of my poems translated into Welsh for the first time ever by Sian Northey, for an upcoming anthology of bilingual writing, coming out in February with Honno.

“That is scary and you feel vulnerable because you don’t know how it has come across, if it hits where you intended it to hit etc etc – and letting someone else have control of your words is a bit daunting.

“I suppose if you can do it yourself then you can have that control, but Sian is brilliant and I know she’s done an amazing job.”

Busy year ahead

The beginning of a new year is the perfect starting point for setting up new goals, and with the desire to learn Welsh now turned into action, I asked Rhian what else is on her 2026 agenda.

“I was really lucky at the start of this year to be awarded a grant from the Royal Literary Fund, which has taken a huge financial strain off me, so I’m going to use the money for life stuff, but also towards writing stuff.

“I’ve got a trip to Vienna planned to research some artwork and an artist I want to write about and I’m also off to north Wales, a bit for poetry and a bit for research.

“I’m just beginning work on curating an anthology of queer Welsh writing from Wales too, alongside Aaron Kent, publisher at Broken Sleep Books, which will be out some time this year.

“I’m looking forward to reading at Llandeilo Lit Fest and The Poetry Pharmacy in Bishop’s Castle as well.”

It’s shaping up to be a busy year for Rhian.

I can’t wait to see what it brings her and maybe even practice some Welsh with her.

Pob lwc!