Cwrs Cynganeddu

 Mererid Hopwood is Professor in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University. She has won the Chair, the Crown and the Prose Medal at the National Eisteddfod. Her most recent publication is a volume of poems, Mae (Barddas Publications, 2025). She has been Bardd Plant Cymru and has published poems and novels for children. She has enjoyed numerous opportunities to discuss literature in societies and classes throughout Wales, sometimes venturing to take part in literary festivals abroad. She takes part in the Welsh-language poetry competition Y Talwrn and is a member of the Carmarthen School of Poetry. She was also a Bardic Professor for Literature Wales’ Pencerdd programme to nurture new voices in the world of the ancient art of cynganeddu. She received the Glyndŵr Medal, the Prime Minister's Saint David Medal and the Hay Festival Medal for her contribution to literature. She is the current Archdruid and Secretary of the Welsh Peace Academy. 

A former secondary school teacher, Tudur Dylan is the co-founder of Carmarthen’s Bardic School which has nurtured legendary poets over a period of 30 years. He is a member of the Talwrn Tir Iarll team, and he was the Meuryn for Ymryson y Beirdd in the National Eisteddfod for twenty years, before transferring the mantle in 2023. Dylan won the Flintshire Eisteddfod Crown in 2017, and Bro Colwyn Eisteddfod Chair in 1995 and again at the Eryri and Surrounding Area Eisteddfod in 2005. He was Bardd Plant Cymru in 2004-05, and has published volumes of poetry and prose, together with non-fiction-creative work for children. He collaborated with the poet Non Lewis as a Bardic Teacher on the Literature Wales programme, Pencerdd, which nurtures new poets. His latest collection of poems is Am yn Ail (Poetry Publications, 2021) a joint volume with his father, the esteemed poet, John Gwilym Jones.