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26 March 2020

‘The Snow Spider’ author, Jenny Nimmo, shares how the Mabinogion influenced the writing of her much loved children’s book that has now been turned into a five-part 麻豆官网首页入口 series.

“Many years ago I had a dream job, I still do, in fact, because I am a children’s author, but in the early 70s I worked on a 麻豆官网首页入口 TV Children’s programme called Jackanory. My job was to adapt published children’s novels into five fifteen minute TV programmes. It was a very simple format. An actor would sit in front of the camera and read from an autocue, while pictures appeared on the screen to illustrate the story.

Sometimes we had to adapt myths, legends and folktales. I had worked on Scottish, Russian, Irish and many others before I was given the job of adapting a Welsh myth. The actor chosen to do the reading was Ray Smith. The story was ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ from the Mabinogion, a collection of myths compiled in the 12th and 13th centuries from oral traditions dating back even earlier.

I had never worked with anyone like Ray. He would ring me at night and read passages from ‘Culhwch and Olwen’, making sure I didn’t leave them out. He began to make demands: he wanted a cloak, a crown, a throne and trumpet music. I was carried away by his enthusiasm and exceeded my tiny budget, but I loved every minute of it. When the programme was over Ray made me promise to read every myth in the Mabinogion. I did, of course. I had never met anyone who was so passionate about his country, its language and its culture.

Of all the stories in the Mabinogion the one I loved most was ‘Math, son of Mathonwy’. It was in this story that I met Gwydion, the magician, and he stayed in my mind long after I had read the myths. Gwydion came from a family of magicians, Math, Gwydion’s uncle, being the greatest. Gwydion was mischievous and used his magic quite cruelly at times. He loved and hated passionately, but he was also described as the best storyteller in the land. Perhaps it was this last talent that so endeared him to me. One day, I thought, I will bring him into a story of my own.

Soon after I had worked with Ray I happened to be at a publishers’ party. I must have mentioned ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ because someone began rather unsteadily to sing in Welsh. Before I knew it a young man had pushed his way towards me and gave a perfect rendering of the same song. I was impressed. He asked if he could take me out to dinner. I accepted. His name was David and he was a painter. He had just had an illustrated book published.

We stepped out, as they used to call it. David introduced me to his wonderful agents Gina and Murray Pollinger. They sold my first book, written while I was still working for the 麻豆官网首页入口.

Our children found the spider. On one of our walks to the school bus we saw spiders’ webs in the hedges, glittering in an early frost. Sometimes gossamer would stretch right across the lane and we would duck our heads so that we shouldn’t break it. One of the children suggested that spiders must be magical. And so I had found Gwyn’s familiar, his magician’s wand, the creature that will help Gwyn to reach his lost sister and overcome Efnisien.

It is an extraordinary experience for any author to see their work brought to life in film. Not all authors are satisfied, but Owen Sheers, who adapted ‘The Snow Spider’ is a wonderful poet, and I was truly thrilled by the film script that was sent to me. Owen had somehow brought the story into the present without losing any of the magic, but actually enhancing it.”