Norah Isaac

Norah Isaac (1915 – 3 August 2003) was a Welsh author, drama producer and campaigner for Welsh-language education.[1]

Background

Norah Isaac was born in 1914 in the village of Caerau near Maesteg in the old county of Glamorgan, Wales and was educated at Glamorgan Training College, Barry.[2]

Isaac was a passionate advocate of the Welsh language and in 1935 she became head of the Glamorgan division of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a Welsh-medium youth movement. She remained in that post until her appointment as the first head teacher at Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd in 1939, the country's first Welsh-medium school.[2][3] When Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd opened, as a private school, Isaac was the sole teacher and there were only seven pupils.[4] The success Isaac brought to the school saw year on year growth until by 1945 a staff of four teachers and an enrolment of 71 children meant the original building was now too small for purpose.[5] The school moved to a small country house near Llanbadarn, and changed its name to Ysgol Lluest. Isaac remained as the headteacher until 1949 and during her time there she, and Ifan ab Owen Edwards, who established the school, campaigned for the introduction of Welsh-medium schools throughout Wales.[6] Between 1950 and 1958 she lectured at her old college in Barry, before becoming the principal lecturer in Welsh and Drama at Trinity College Carmarthen, establishing the first ever Welsh Drama Department in Wales.[2][3]

She published several books, including two collections of short stories Storiau Awr Hamdden i Blant (1979, 1982), and published a monograph of Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards.[2] She also wrote travel books after visits to Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.[1] Isaac also produced several plays based on important Welsh cultural figures, notably, Iolo Morganwg (1974), Griffith Jones (1984) and William Williams (1991).[2]

As well as her drama and literary world, she was an important figure in the National Eisteddfod and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the National Eisteddfod for her lifelong commitment to the event, the first woman to be given this honour.[1][3] After her death in August 2003,[7] Iolo Wyn Williams in his book Our Children's Language: The Welsh-Medium Schools of Wales, 1939-2000 stated that Isaac was 'the most influential individual in the history of Welsh-medium education'.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Marw Norah Isaac" (in Welsh). bbc.co.uk. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Stephens, Meic, ed. (1998). The New Companion to the Literature of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 353. ISBN 0-7083-1383-3.
  3. 1 2 3 "Alumni Reunion 2008". trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Williams (2003), p.46
  5. ↑ Williams (2003), p.47
  6. ↑ Williams (2003), p.49
  7. ↑ "Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion - 2003, (New Series, Vol. 10, 2004) 2003: society notes". llgc.org.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  8. ↑ Williams (2003), p.50

Bibliography

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