A LLANYSTUMDWY author has received a prestigious medal for her contribution to literature and to Wales.

The Welsh historian, author and travel writer, Jan Morris CBE FRSL FLSW, who celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this month, was awarded the Cymmrodorion Medal during a ceremony held at Ty Newydd Writing Centre in Llanystumdwy on Sunday, 9 October.

The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, which seeks to promote the practice and development of the language, literature, arts and sciences of Wales, awards its medal as a formal contribution of those who have given distinguished service to Wales in many walks of life.

During the ceremony, Prof Jason Walford Davies of the School of Welsh at Bangor University spoke of Jan’s immense contribution to Welsh writing in English and of the value of her work and its cultural significance on a Welsh, British and international basis.

Jan, who lives in Llanystumdwy with her partner, Elizabeth, has been writing and publishing books since the 1950s. She is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy (1968-78), a history of the British Empire; for various books on Wales, including Wales: epic views of a small country (first published asThe Matter of Wales in 1984); and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Hong Kong and New York.

She has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan, is an Honorary Fellow of Christ Church, Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Learned Society of Wales.

She was appointed CBE in 1999 and, in 2005 she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for ‘a Lifetime’s Distinguished Service to Literature’.