Bethan Gwanas (real name Bethan Evans; born 16 January 1962) is a popular contemporary Welsh author, who publishes almost exclusively in the Welsh language. A prolific writer, she has had 17 titles published in the last decade. Whilst not just a fiction writer, she has written novels for teenagers and Welsh learners, though most of her recent work has been for adults. She graduated in French from Aberystwyth University, and in 1985 she won the Crown at the Urdd Eisteddfod. Having lived for periods in places as diverse as Bethesda, Cardiff, Nigeria and France, she has returned to Rhydymain, very close to her childhood roots. She grew up in Brithdir, near Dolgellau in North Wales, and on transferring to secondary school attended Ysgol y Gader, Dolgellau. Professional background Before achieving success as an author, Gwanas worked as a teacher, was deputy head at the Urdd Centre at Glan-llyn, near Bala), and also a research assistant and producer on Radio Cymru. In 2003 she gave up her job as a literature promoter with Gwynedd Council to concentrate full-time on her writing. Her second book, a factual account of her experiences whilst working with VSO in Nigeria, was published in 1997. Since then she has had work aired on radio and TV, and her first book Amdani! (Go for it!) – a novel about a women's rugby team – inspired six series on S4C. Gwanas wrote all but the last 3 series. Following the success of Amdani she also wrote a stage play (written with Script Cymru, and including music and songs), where the publicity describes it as "Sex, mud and rugby from a female perspective." For this, Script Cymru received a major ACW Audience Development Award for work in the Welsh language. She has won two annual Tir na n-Og Awards for Welsh-language children's fiction (for Llinyn Trôns in 2001 and Sgôr in 2003). This prize is awarded annually by the Welsh Books Council. Her novel Hi yw fy Ffrind (She is my friend) reached the shortlist for Llyfr y Flwyddyn (Book of the Year) in 2005. 'Ceri Grafu' is her first novel to be produced as a commercial audio book, but many of the others are available in audio format through the Gwynedd library service. She is known for her informal style of writing, and her adult novels often contain sexual elements not normally associated with Welsh literature. Her novels