Ellis Hughes

Llangefni’s Ellis Hughes has ‘dreamed of being a writer since early childhood’, but after years of focus on prose, it was parenthood that ‘brought poetry to the forefront’. Since becoming a father Hughes has found a creativity in the ‘gentler and more immediate form of expression’ that comes with poetry, drawn to the ‘attentiveness to sound and rhythm, and the freedom it offers in form of language’.

Hughes takes particular inspiration from classic Welsh poets such as RS Thomas and Dylan Thomas ‘whose obscure, complex imagery, combined with effective use of Cymraeg (Welsh)’ have helped him to ‘explore what it means to be a bilingual writer’. Among his other influences are the stream-of-consciousness style of TS Eliot, Simon Armitage – under whom he studied at the University of Sheffield, Welsh poets Gilian Clarke and Owen Sheers, and Carol Ann Duffy who he credits with first making him realise that ‘poetry could be both powerful and accessible’.

‘Poetry lends itself to subtleties; those fleeting, complicated moments that feel truest when held gently in poetic form’

A collection of Hughes’ work has been shortlisted for publication by The Hedgehog Press, and he states that this, and his involvement in A Poet in Every Port has given him a renewed confidence in his writing and a ‘reassurance that [his] poetry was worth pursuing’. 

More pertinently, he sees the opportunity to represent Caernarfon in the project as an ‘absolute privilege’. As Hughes explains, ‘the town’s formidable literary heritage, its poetry in particular, is rooted in Cymraeg and has long been a voice for marginalised people. To help extend that heritage [through A Poet in Every Port] fills me with immeasurable pride’. Hughes aims to use bilingual poetry ‘to reflect what it truly means to be a resident’ of this corner of Wales, ‘offering a space where the stories and hopes of local people can take centre stage’.