“I hope you like it. Me, I loved it.”
Gwyn Jones

Crynodeb:
The old valleys have got something flying about in them beside the coal dust.

Mae Voices of the Children yn stori dyner a theimladwy o fyd euraidd, dros dro, ansicr plentyndod. Wedi’i osod mewn pentref glofaol gwledig yn ne Cymru yn y blynyddoedd yn arwain at yr Ail Ryfel Byd, ail-greodd George Ewart Evans fyd hudolus ond byd a fydd yn atseinio gyda’n hatgofion ni o blentyndod, boed nhw’n rhai go iawn neu’n rhai’r dychymyg.

Nodiadau bywgraffyddol:
Ganed George Ewart Evans ym 1909, ym mhentref glofaol Abercynon. Roedd yn un o deulu o un ar ddeg o blant yr oedd eu rhieni’n cadw siop groser – a dyma ble gosodwyd ei nofel led-hunangofiannol, Voices of the Children (1947). Wedi derbyn ei addysg yn Ysgol Sir Aberpennar a Choleg Prifysgol Caerdydd, lle’r astudiodd y clasuron a hyfforddi fel athro – roedd ganddo uchelgais i ddod yn awdur. Cyhoeddodd farddoniaeth a straeon byrion – llawer ohonynt â chefndir Cymreig – mewn sawl cylchgrawn llenyddol, ac ymddangosodd detholiadau o Voices of the Children gyntaf yn The Welsh Review, ym 1945.
Ym 1934 daeth yn athro yn Swydd Gaergrawnt, lle cyfarfu â’i wraig Ellen. Wedi ei gyfnod yn y RAF adeg rhyfel, aethant i fyw’n barhaol yn East Anglia a magu pedwar o blant. Ym 1948 rhoddodd y gorau i ddysgu a throi o ysgrifennu ffuglen i gynhyrchu astudiaethau, sydd bellach yn cael eu hystyried fel clasuron, yn seiliedig ar ei gymdogion oedrannus yn East Anglia – gweithwyr fferm a chrefftwyr gwledig – y cafodd gyfoeth o wybodaeth oddi wrthynt ynglŷn â’u harferion diflanedig, arferion gwaith ac ofergoelion. Roedd ei Ask the Fellows who Cut the Hay (1956) yn ei nodi fel dehonglydd gwreiddiol a theimladwy o fywyd gwledig Seisnig, a llyfrau fel The Pattern Under the Plough (1966), Where Beards Wag All (1970), The Days That We Have Seen (1975), a From Mouths of Men (1976), lle dychwelodd o feysydd glo de Cymru, wedi sefydlu’i enw fel arloeswr ym maes hanes llafar.
Bu farw yn Brooke, ar y ffin rhwng Norfolk a Suffolk, ym 1988.

Rhagflas byr

I first met the writer of Voices of the Children through Doctor Thomas, our local GP, to whom George Ewart Evans dedicated his oral history of mining life, From Mouths of Men. It happened in a round about way. I was stuck in the house recovering from an accident at work; I was watching too much television and complaining about it too much to Peggy, my wife. She suggested, not so politely, that if I thought I could do better I should write something myself. So I did. A friend typed it and we sent it to the BBC and, lo and behold, I was invited up to London to ‘discuss your script’. Doctor Thomas was delighted- he always believed in keeping his patients active- but because I was still under his care he was also concerned. It was March 1963, the whole country was frozen solid and I was still in a pretty fragile state. I had lost an eye in the accident. But I went anyway. The man I had to see at the BBC was Harry Green, a well known television script writer, from Neath. He met me at the reception.
Darllenwch y rhagair cyfan i Voices of the Children YMA...

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