Norah Isaac

Norah Isaac (1914 – 3 August 2003) was a Welsh author, drama producer and campaigner for Welsh-language education.[1] She became the head of the country's first Welsh-medium school, Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd, in 1939.

Background

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

Welsh-language advocate

Isaac was a strong advocate of the Welsh language. In 1935 she became head of the Glamorgan division of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a Welsh-medium youth movement. She remained there until her appointment as founding head of 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 it saw year-on-year growth, until by 1945 a staff of four teachers and an enrolment of 71 children meant the original building was too small for its purpose.[5] The school moved to a country house near Llanbadarn and changed its name to Ysgol Lluest. Isaac remained as the head teacher until 1949. 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 Welsh Drama Department in Wales.[2][3]

Publications and plays

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

Honoured

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

References
  1. "Marw Norah Isaac" (in Welsh). bbc.co.uk. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  2. 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. "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
  • Williams, Iolo Wyn (2003). Our Children's Language: The Welsh-Medium Schools of Wales, 1939-2000. Cardiff: Y Lolfa. ISBN 9780862437046.
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