Y Llyfrgell...

The National Library of Wales celebrates its centenary this year. Join poet and presenter Mererid Hopwood on a magical journey into the wealth of Welsh culture and literature housed within these walls.

From the earliest papyrus through to the leading edge technologies of the 21st century, the Library has it all, and here's your chance to delve a little deeper into the root and branch of our history.

Mererid Hopwood...

Mererid Hopwood comes from Cardiff though her family roots are firmly in Pembrokeshire. She was awarded a first class honours in Spanish and German from Aberystwyth and a PhD from University College London. She lives in Carmarthen with her husband and their three children. The family enjoys taking their tent around Wales and sleeping under canvas – Mererid particularly likes not having to do housekeeping in the tent!

Mererid made history in 2001 when she became the first woman ever to win the prestigious Bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod. She has since won the Crown there, and in 2005-6 she was appointed Welsh Children's Laureate (Bardd Plant Cymru). During her term in the post, she held workshops in schools and online to encourage the children of today to aspire to be the poets of tomorrow. Mererid lectures in German and Welsh at the University of Wales, Swansea, and teaches Spanish at Ysgol Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen.

As an avid reader and lover of books, Mererid says that the opportunity to present this series was too good to pass up. The staff at the Library were amazingly kind, she says, and the production team who worked on the series were great. Highlights for her were touching the original Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (The Black Book of Carmarthen) and reading Hedd Wyn's letter from the trenches inquiring whether his submission for the Chair had arrived safely, which she found very emotional.