Moelona

Moelona
Lizzie Mary Jones, from a 1917 newspaper.
Born	Eliza Mary Owen 21 June 1877 Moylon, Rhydlewis, Cardiganshire, Wales
Died	5 June 1953 New Quay, Cardiganshire, Wales
Nationality	British
Other names	Elizabeth Mary Jones (after marriage), Lizzie Jones
Occupation(s)	Writer, novelist, translator

Moelona was the pen-name of Elizabeth (Lizzie) Mary Jones (née Owen) (21 June 1877 – 5 June 1953), a Welsh novelist and translator who wrote novels for children and other works in Welsh.

Early life

She was born at Rhydlewis, Ceredigion, the youngest of thirteen children, on a farm called "Moylon", hence her choice of pseudonym. Her parents were John Owen and Mary James Owen.[1] She went to school at Rhydlewis, one of her schoolmates being Caradoc Evans. In 1890 she became a pupil-teacher, the need to care for her widowed father preventing her from obtaining any tertiary education.[2]

Career

Fiction

Moelona taught school as a young woman, at Pontrhydyfen, Bridgend, and Acrefair. She moved to Cardiff in 1905. She wrote her first novel (Rhamant o Ben y Rhos) for an eisteddfod in 1907, but it was not published until 1918 (as Rhamant y Rhos). In 1911 she published two romance novellas, Rhamant Nyrs Bivan (Nurse Bevan's Romance) and Alys Morgan. She won a prize at the National Eisteddfod for another work of fiction, a didactic novella titled Teulu Bach Nantoer (The Little Family of Nantoer) in 1912; after it was published the next year, it became a popular Welsh-language children's book for many years.[1]

In her novel Bugail y Bryn (1917) she evokes the Welsh dialect of south Cardiganshire, with an explanatory note (before page 1) of the most common distinctive features.[3] Cwrs y lli (The Course of the Stream, 1927), a desert-island adventure Breuddwydion Myfanwy (The Dreams of Myfanwy, 1928)[4] and Beryl (1931) were considered "girls' novels". Her last novel was Ffynnonloyw (Bright Spring, 1939), in which the characters exemplify the progress Welsh women experienced in the early twentieth century.[1][2]

Translation, lectures, journalism

Moelona joined a British-French Society in Cardiff, and became acquainted with the works of Alphonse Daudet, several of which she translated for Welsh-language periodicals, and published as Y wers olaf (The Last Lesson, 1921).[1][5] Her husband was also a writer, and encouraged her in her writing career by making her the children's columnist on Y Darian, a periodical which he edited.[2] She also wrote a women's column for the paper beginning in 1919;[6] she encouraged women to read more about current events, to prepare for the vote.[4] She gave a lecture on "The Novel" at the second meeting of the Celtic Society at Aberystwyth in 1923. She also wrote two textbooks in Welsh, Priffordd Llên (1924) and Storïau o Hanes Cymru (1930).[7]

Personal life

In 1917,[8] Lizzie Owen married a widowed Baptist minister and editor, John Tywi Jones,[9] in Cardiff. His daughters Sophie and Gwyneth lived with them in Glais, Swansea.[6] The couple lived in New Quay, Ceredigion, from 1935 until their respective deaths in 1949 and 1953.[1] Her grave is in Rhydlewis.[2] A collection of her letters, scrapbooks, and manuscripts are archived in the National Library of Wales.[10]

Works

• Teulu Bach Nantoer (1913)[11]
• Bugail y Bryn (1917)
• Rhamant y Rhos (1918)
• Cwrs y Lli (1927)
• Breuddwydion Myfanwy (1928)
• Beryl (1931)
• Ffynnonloyw (1939)

References

1. Gramich, Katie (2011). "Jones, Elizabeth Mary [née Eliza Mary Owen; known as Moelona] (1877–1953), novelist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/101144. Retrieved 9 March 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Jenkins, David. "JONES, ELIZABETH MARY ('Moelona'; 1877 - 1953), teacher and novelist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
3. Moelona, Bugail y Bryn Argraffwyd a Chyhoeddwyd yn Swyddfa'r "Cymro", Dolgellau, 1917.
4. Rosser, Siwan M. "Navigating Nation, Gender, and the Robinsonade in The Dreams of Myfanwy" in Ian Kinane, ed., Didactics and the Modern Robinsonade: New Paradigms for Young Readers (Oxford University Press 2019): 91–114. ISBN 9781789620047
5. Daudet, Alphonse (1921). Y Wers Olaf, Ac Ystoriau Eraill ... Wedi Eu Troi I'r Gymraeg Gan Moelona. Caerdydd.
6. "Moelona". Cromen. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
7. "Welsh University Notes". The Guardian. 10 February 1923. p. 6. Retrieved 9 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Priodas Golygydd y Darian a Moelona" Y Darian (6 September 1917): 5. via Welsh Newspapers.
9. Macbean, Lachlan (1921). The Celtic who's who: Names and addresses of workers who contribute to Celtic literature, music or other cultural activities, along with other information. National Library of Scotland. Kirkcaldy : Fifeshire Advertiser. p. 72 – via Internet Archive.
10. Moelona Manuscripts, National Library of Wales.
11. Moelona (1978). Teulu bach nantoer (in Welsh). Hughes a'i Fab.