Dorothy Bonarjee: Bard of Aberystwyth

From Planet 238

by Andrew Whitehead

Andrew Whitehead relates the story of a now-forgotten figure in Welsh literary life during the First World War – a young woman from India who achieved acclaim in Wales while also experiencing racism and a broken heart.

‘Hindu Lady Chaired’, ran the headline in The Cambria Daily Leader. The event was the Eisteddfod at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth in February 1914. A nineteen-year-old Indian student caused a sensation when she was awarded the bardic chair.

About the author

Andrew Whitehead is an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham and an associate editor of History Workshop Journal and has written particularly about Kashmir, British radicalism and his home area of North London. He worked for BBC News for 35 years, notably as India correspondent and as a political correspondent.