An award-winning author from Ceredigion has just published her first children’s book in English.

Caryl Lewis, from Dihewyd, near Aberaeron, has won numerous awards for her work, including Welsh Book of the Year twice for Martha, Jac a Sianco and Y Bwthyn, as well as numerous awards for her books for children and young adults, including wining the prestigious Tir na n-Og children’s fiction prize twice.

She has also been voted Wales’ Favourite Welsh-language Author by BBC Radio Cymru listeners.

Little Honey Bee has been beautifully illustrated by Valériane Leblond, who also lives in the county.

Caryl and Valériane have collaborated before on two very popular Welsh-language children’s books: Sgleinio’r Lleuad, which reached the Tir na n-Og shortlist in 2015, and Merch y Mêl, which also reached the Tir na n-Og shortlist in 2018.

Little Honey Bee is Caryl’s translation of the latter, and is the first of their books to be published into English.

Merch y Mêl/Little Honey Bee, has received high praise and tells the story of Elsi, a little girl left on her grandmother’s doorstep in the middle of the night.

She’s as silent as the snow which has blanketed the countryside outside, and remains so until her grandmother shows her a secret at the bottom of the garden at the start of spring – a village of bees!

As Elsi follows the bees in the garden throughout the year, she notices everything that takes place over the course of the year and comes to love each season in turn.

“I wrote the book partly to teach children about the seasons and the names of things in the countryside around them, words like foxgloves, bluebells, catkins. Children don’t get to learn the names of trees and flowers these days,” explained Caryl, a belief which is shared by Valériane.

See this week’s south papers for the full feature, available in shops and as a digital edition now