Angharad Tomos Yma o Hyd (1985)

Abstract

Since it was first published in 1985, Yma o Hyd has been welcomed by some authoritative commentators as an outstanding piece of creative writing. For example, M. Wynn Thomas exclaimed that it was ‘one of the best Welsh books, in either language, to have appeared for quite a time’ (Thomas, M. Wynn, 1992: 163), while John Rowlands identified it as ‘one of the best of recent novels’ (Rowlands quoted in the Western Mail 8th August, 1992: 7). This work won the Academi Gymreig prize for Tomos in 1985 but was unsuccessful at the National Eisteddfod of the previous year, unjustly according to some (Aaron, 2000: 128). This does not, however, appear to have been a barrier to Yma o Hyd enjoying serious literary attention as it was very shortly afterwards adopted as a set text by the Welsh Joint Education Committee, the main examinations body in the statutory education sector in Wales. At the time of its publication, Angharad Tomos had, from 1976 onwards, spent various spells in prison at HMPs Risley, Holloway, Crake Hall and Styal (Tomos, 1985). The prison diary format that she adopts for this text is especially apposite to the context of its writing as it allows us to understand Tomos’s work in relation to the notion of ‘doing time’, a concept which is central to the sociology of incarceration (Matthews, 1999). Moreover, the quasi-autobiographical style she adopts in Yma o Hyd means that it is possible to infer the psychological impact of prison on Tomos herself.

Ond does dim mudiad ar wahan i ni ein hunain. Does dim cyflenwad diddiwedd o ‘bobl eraill’ i wneud y gwaith. Ni yw’r bobl hynny, a pho fwyaf ohonom ni sy’n ymrwymo i ymgyrchu, mwyaf o waith allwn ni ei gyflawni. Dim ond gair i gall fel petai. (Angharad Tomos, Gair I Gell, 2010: 32).

[But there is no movement other than us, ourselves. There is no endless supply of ‘other people’ to do the work. We are those people, and the more of us who commit to campaigning, the more work we will be able to achieve. This is merely a word to the wise]