Poet and Welsh works translator Meirion Pennar dies

Image caption, Meirion Pennar was an academic and poet

Dr Meirion Pennar, a poet and academic who translated two works of Welsh literature, has died aged 65.

A lecturer in Welsh at University of Wales, Lampeter, his specialist fields included medieval Welsh poetry and the Welsh novel in the 19th Century.

His translations of Taliesin poems and The Black Book of Carmarthen were well received and remain in print.

He published two volumes of poetry, Syndod y S锚r and Pair Dadeni, and two long poems, Saga and Y Gadwyn.

One of five children, he was the eldest son of the theologian and writer, Dr Pennar Davies.

Born in Cardiff, he was brought up in Bangor, Brecon and Swansea. He graduated with an honours degree in Welsh from Swansea University and was a research student at Jesus College, Oxford.

He was a lecturer in Welsh in Dublin until he was appointed lecturer in the Welsh Department, Lampeter in 1975.

He lived in Ceredigion for many years, including Llandysul and Adpar, Newcastle Emlyn, before moving to Swansea to care for his ageing mother and younger brother, Geraint, in the last decade or so.

He published a number of articles in periodicals and magazines about a wide range of topics relating to Welsh literature.

He was a language and political campaigner in the 1970s with the Welsh Language Society, a political columnist with Y Ddraig Goch magazine and was a parliamentary candidate for Plaid Cymru in the Swansea West constituency.

Dr Pennar died at his home in Swansea. He leaves one son.