Kate Roberts (February 13, 1891 - April 4, 1985) was one of the foremost Welsh-language authors of the twentieth century. She is known mainly for her short stories, but she also wrote novels. Roberts was also a prominent Welsh nationalist. February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Welsh nationalism is the Welsh expression of nationalism, a movement that became popular in nineteenth-century Europe and gradually became a global phenomenon in the twentieth century. ...

Life

Roberts was born in the village of Rhosgadfan, Caernarvonshire (Gwynedd today) where her father was a quarryman in the local slate quarries. She graduated in Welsh at the University College of North Wales, Bangor and then trained as a teacher. She then taught in various schools in south Wales. Caernarfonshire, also known as Carnarvonshire or, in Welsh, as Sir Gaernarfon, is a maritime traditional county of Wales, bounded N. by the Irish Sea, E. by Denbighshire, S. by Cardigan Bay and Merionethshire, and W. by Caernarfon Bay and the Menai Straits, which separates it from Anglesey. ... Gwynedd is an administrative county in Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... The University of Wales, Bangor (UWB) is a constituent institution of the University of Wales based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales, United Kingdom. ...

An early member of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, it was at their meetings that she met Morris T. Williams, whom she married in 1928. Williams was a printer, and eventually they bought the printing and publishing house Gwasg Gee (=The Gee Press), Denbigh, and moved to live in the town in 1935. The press published books, pamphlets and the Welsh-language weekly Y Faner (=The Banner), for which Roberts wrote regularly. After her husband's death in 1946 she carried on working the press for another ten years. Plaid Cymru (literally meaning the Party of Wales) is the principal nationalist political party in Wales[1]. It advocates the secession of Wales from the United Kingdom (an ideology known as independence or self government) and the Welsh language and its associated culture. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about a town in Wales. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ...

She remained in Denbigh after her retirement and died in 1985. This article is about a town in Wales. ... This article is about the year. ...

Work

It was the death of her brother in the First World War that led Roberts to writing. She used her literary work as a means of coming to terms with her loss. World War I, also known as the First World War, and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice (cessation of hostilities) on November 11, 1918. ...

Her first volume of short stories appeared in 1925 O gors y bryniau (=From the swamp of the hills) but perhaps her most successful book of short stories is Te yn y grug (=Tea in the heather) (1959), a series of stories about children. As well as short stories Roberts also wrote novels, perhaps her most famous being Traed mewn cyffion (=Feet in chains) (1936) which reflected the hard life of a slate quarrying family. In 1960 she published Y lôn wen, a volume of autobiography. A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... An autobiography (from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write) is a biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled as told to or with). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older. ...

Most of her novels and short stories have as a background about the region where she lived in north Wales. She herself said that she derived the material for her work, "from the society in which I was brought up, a poor society in an age poverty ... it was always a struggle against poverty. But notice that the characters haven't reached the bottom of that poverty, they are struggling against it, afraid of it." Her work deals with the uneventful lives of humble people and how they deal with difficulties and disillusionments. For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom and England, see British Isles (terminology). ...

Her work is remarkable for the richness of her language and for her perception. The role of women in society and progressive ideas about life and love are major themes in her work.

She also struck up a literary relationship with Saunders Lewis which they maintained over a period of forty years through the medium of letters. These letters give us a picture of life in Wales during the period and the comments of these two literary giants on events at home and abroad. Saunders Lewis (John Saunders Lewis), (1893-1895), was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic and political activist. ...

Many of her works have been translated into other languages.

A selection of Roberts's works in Welsh and in translation

• Traed mewn cyffion (=Feet in chains) (1936). Novel. Llandysul : Gwasg Gomer, 2001. ISBN 0863834809.
• Ffair Gaeaf a storïau eraill (=Winter fair and other stories) (1937). Short stories. Denbigh : Gwasg Gee, 2000. ISBN 0000173738.
• Y byw sy'n cysgu (=The living dead) (1956). Novel. Denbigh : Gwasg Gee, 1995. ISBN 0707402689.
• Te yn y grug (=Tea in the heather) (1959). Short stories. Llandysul : Gwasg Gee, 2004. ISBN 1904554016.
• Y lôn wen (=The white lane) (1960). Autobiography. Denbigh : Gwasg Gee, 2000. ISBN 0000179914.
• Ifans, Dafydd (Ed.) (1992), Annwyl Kate, annwyl Saunders : gohebiaeth, 1923-1983 (=Dear Kate, dear Saunders : correspondence, 1923-1983). Aberystwyth : National Library of Wales. ISBN 0907158579. The letters of Kate Roberts and Saunders Lewis.

Translations Traed mewn cyffion (Feet in chains) is a novel by Kate Roberts, written in the Welsh language and first published in 1936. ...

• Roberts, Kate (2002), Feet in chains. Translated by John Idris Jones. Bridgend : Seren. ISBN 1854113216.
• Roberts, Kate (2001), Sun and storm and other stories. Denbigh : Gwasg Gee. ISBN 0707403472.
• Roberts, Kate (2002), Tea in the heather. Translated by Wyn Griffith. Bridgend : Seren. ISBN 1854113208.
• Roberts, Kate (1991), The world of Kate Roberts : selected stories, 1925-1981. Translated by Joseph P. Clancy. Philadelphia : Temple University Pres. ISBN 0-87722-794-2. A general introduction to her short stories in English which includes a translation of Te yn y grug (=Tea in the heather).

Sources

• Morgan, Derec Llwyd (1991), Kate Roberts. Writers of Wales series. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708311156. An introduction to her work in English.
• Parry, Thomas (1955), A history of Welsh literature. Translated by H. Idris Bell. Oxford : Clarendon Press.
• 'Roberts, Kate (1891-1985)'. In Meic Stephens (Ed.) (1998), The new companion to the literature of Wales. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708313833.

External links

• Kate Roberts is one of the Women writers of Denbighshire featured on the Denbighshire Library Service website.
• Kate Roberts on the BBC Wales website.