A FORMER vice-chancellor of Aberystwyth University has been busy lately, putting his childhood memories in to a new book.

Derec Llwyd Morgan is not only a well-known author and poet and academic chairman of this year’s Eisteddfod Ynys Môn Executive Committee, but he has also been celebrating the publication of his new memoir.

Derec, who spent nine years as vice-chancellor of Aberystwyth University, was brought up in the village of Cefn-Bryn-Brain in Carmarthenshire during the 1940s and his book – Bachgendod Isaac - Atgofion Cynnar Derec Llwyd Morgan (Isaac’s Boyhood - Early Memories of Derec Llwyd Morgan) – looks back at his childhood.

The book takes readers on a journey through the village’s highways and byways, introducing them to its people and local characters along the way – all seen through the eyes of this sensitive young boy from ‘Y Cefen’ with a bright future ahead of him.

Despite being asked several times over the years, Derec has always refused to write an autobiography.

“Many of the people I would be writing about are still in the land of the living and I didn’t want to commit to writing things about people who are still alive!” he said.

However, a bout of illness two-and-a-half years ago forced Derek to take some time off – and he decided to use this time to write a memoir of his boyhood growing up in Cefn-Bryn-Brain.

“I had treatment for a melanoma on my head, so I couldn’t do anything physical, like gardening, for example” Derec explained.

“So I decided to write about my boyhood growing up in ‘Y Cefen’ – it came back to me easily. I decided to stop when I reached the age of 15 when I lost my best friend. Everything changed after that.”

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