Poet laureate announced at Urdd

Ifor ap Glyn takes over from Caryl Parry Jones

A new Children's Poet Laureate for Wales 2008-9 has been announced from the stage of Conwy's Urdd Gobaith Cymru National Eisteddfod.

The new poet laureate - Ifor ap Glyn - from Caernarfon, becomes the ninth person to hold the post.

The position is a joint scheme between S4C, the Welsh Books Council, the Welsh Academy and Urdd Gobaith Cymru.

The post in Wales aims to get children to enjoy poetry as well as raising its profile.

Mr ap Glyn said he was extremely happy to receive the title of Wales' Children's Poet Laureate.

He said: "Accepting this post is an honour, and I look forward to working with children and young people all over Wales. I hope also to use video and music while writing poems with them."

Mr ap Glyn follows in the footsteps of Myrddin ap Dafydd, Meirion McIntyre Huws, Menna Elfyn, Ceri Wyn Jones, Tudur Dylan, Mererid Hopwood, Gwyneth Glyn and Caryl Parry Jones.

He was born and brought up in the Welsh community in London, where his family have lived for over 100 years, but now lives and works in Caernarfon, with his wife and their four children.

He works as a television producer, having spent some time scriptwriting for theatre and television.

He won the Crown at the National Eisteddfod in Anglesey in 1999 for a poem examining the conflicting attitudes towards Welsh learners in the industrial south east and the traditional heartlands of the language.

Mr ap Glyn said he has always enjoyed performing his work live.

He performed in an event to celebrate the opening of the Welsh National Assembly in 1999, as part of a line-up that also included Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey.