THE UNIVERSITY of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies will host the Sir Thomas Parry-Williams Memorial Lecture tomorrow (April 23).
After graduating in English from the University of Cambridge and Law from the University College of Wales Aberystwyth, Emyr Lewis spent over three decades working as a solicitor in Cardiff, Swansea and Pontypridd, developing expertise in Welsh constitutional and public law, and cultivating a particular interest in law relating to the Welsh language.
From 2001 to 2013, he was the UK member of COMEX, the Council of Europe’s independent Committee of Experts which scrutinises states’ compliance to their duties under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. He also worked as a Senior Fellow of Welsh Law at the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University and contributed to the Centre’s work in the field of Welsh law and constitutional matters.
In 2019, he was appointed Professor of Law and Head of the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University. He retired in 2024 and now holds Professor Emeritus status.
He has given evidence to several committees of the Welsh Parliament and the UK Parliament, as well as campaigning in favour of strengthening the position of the Welsh language in legislation.
He is also a poet and won the Chair of the National Eisteddfod in 1994 and the Crown in 1998. As well as publishing three volumes of poems, he has written and lectured extensively on legal and literary topics.
‘Cei ganmol hon fel canmol jwg ar seld’
‘Ond gwna hi’n hanfod – ac fe gei di weld’
This is the familiar closing couplet of T. H. Parry-Williams’s sonnet ‘Cyngor’ from 1949, expressing, but at the same time satirising, the cautious attitude towards upholding the Welsh language as one of the ‘essences’ of the nation.
Emyr Lewis will consider constitutional and legal developments in Wales over the period of devolution in the light of these words, arguing that it is now possible to say that the Welsh language is the essence of Wales.
Professor Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Director of the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, said: “We are delighted to welcome Professor Emyr Lewis to deliver this year’s T. H. Parry-Williams Memorial Lecture.
“A lawyer, scholar, poet and activist, Professor Lewis is a prominent figure in Welsh public life, and we very much look forward to his analysis and reflections on the important and timely topic of securing a prosperous future for our national language in the second quarter of the twenty-first century.”
The lecture will be held live in the Drwm, National Library of Wales, and online via Zoom, at 5.00pm on April 23.
This is a free event. Guests are requested to book in advance if they wish to attend the lecture in the Library. Tea will be served at 4.30pm. Email [email protected] to register.
