Zonia Bowen
Zonia Bowen (23 April 1926 – 18 March 2024) was an English-born writer, linguist, and activist in Wales. The founder of the women's organisation Merched y Wawr, Bowen worked to promote the Welsh language and Welsh culture.
Early life and education[edit]
Zonia Margarita North was born in Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk, England, in 1926.[1][2][3] She grew up in Heckmondwike, Yorkshire.[4][5][6]
She studied French at Bangor University in Wales during the 1940s.[4][5] While there, she began to learn Welsh for the first time, to connect with friends and neighbours.[4][5] Despite her own English background, she became passionate about the Welsh language and Welsh identity.[4][5][6]
In 1947, she married the Welsh poet Geraint Bowen.[3][4][5] They had four children; several of her grandchildren are members of the bands Plu and Y Bandana.[5]
Activism[edit]
In 1967, Zonia Bowen founded Merched y Wawr in response to officials not allowing the local Women's Institute branch, near Bala, to operate in the Welsh language.[4][5][6][7][8] The new women's organisation grew to a national one that continues to this day.[6]
Bowen served as the organisation's first national secretary, and as the founding editor of its Y Wawr magazine, which she ran for six years.[2][4] During her time with the group, she organised several international trips for its members, including to the Soviet Union in 1975.[2]
She resigned as honorary president in 1976, severing ties with Merched y Wawr, because she had envisioned it as a secular, nondenominational organisation open to everyone, but others wanted to incorporate Christianity into its activities.[4][5][6]
As a child, Bowen had been raised without religion.[5] She was involved with the Wales Humanists, including as onetime secretary of the organisation's council, though she did not explicitly label herself as a humanist, preferring "freethinker" or no label at all.[4][5]
Bowen was also prominently involved in the Madryn campaign, which opposed the dumping of nuclear waste in Wales.[2][4]
Writing[edit]
In addition to French and Welsh, Bowen also studied Breton, and she went on to publish the first Welsh-language Breton textbook.[2][4][9] She also published a Welsh-language book for children about humanism.[5] In 1991, she co-wrote a seminal history of the Gorsedd of Bards with her husband.[5][10]
She published an autobiography, Dy bobl di fydd fy mhobl i, in 2015.[4][5]
Death[edit]
Zonia Bowen died in 2024 at the age of 97.[2][4]
References[edit]
- ^ Bowen, Zonia (2015). Dy Bobl Di Fydd fy Mhobl I. Y Lolfa. ISBN 978-1-78461-064-7.
- ^ a b c d e f "Sefydlydd Merched y Wawr Zonia Bowen wedi marw". Newyddion S4C (in Welsh). 18 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ a b Bowie, Fiona; Davies, Oliver (1992). Discovering Welshness. Gomer. ISBN 978-0-86383-722-7.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Sylfaenydd Merched y Wawr, Zonia Bowen, wedi marw yn 97 oed". BBC (in Welsh). 19 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Crefydd, y Gymraeg a Zonia Bowen". BBC (in Welsh). 4 February 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Mam Merched y Wawr". BBC (in Welsh). 24 April 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ Philip, Alan Butt (1975). The Welsh Question: Nationalism in Welsh Politics, 1945–1970. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-0537-9.
- ^ Beddoe, Deirdre (2000). Out of the Shadows: A History of Women in Twentieth-century Wales. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1591-0.
- ^ "Zonia Bowen: Biography and Bibliography". Y Lolfa. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ Stephens, Meic (1998). The New Companion to the Literature of Wales. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1383-1.