CELEBRATING SALI MALI

Fans remember the characters of a celebrated Welsh storyteller who would have turned 99 this year

H ER characters have been loved by generations of Welsh children who grew up reading and watching her stories.

Now, 99 years after her birth, Mary Vaughan Jones is known as one of Wales’ most celebrated children’s authors.

She created Sali Mali and Tomos Caradog, which have been enjoyed by children through her books, on television and in countries across the world.

Jones, who would have celebrated her 99th birthday this year, was born at Firs Cottage, in Maenan, Conwy, in 1918.

Her love of storytelling blossomed during her career as a teacher.

It was while teaching at Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth that she was asked to write a series of stories for a magazine, and she even wrote songs for the children in her class.

One of the characters who she used to tell her class about was Tomos Caradog – an adven- turous mouse who peared in her books.

She later became a lecturer at Coleg Normal in Bangor, where she started to think about writing stories for a younger age group.

It was during these writing sessions that she came up with her most famous creation, the orange-dressed woman with the beehive hairdo, Sali Mali.

Jones’ first story to be published in book form, in 1969, was called Sali Mali as part of the Cyfres Darllen Stori series, and featured illustrations by her colleague Rowena Wyn Jones.

Menna Lloyd Williams, former head of the Children’s Books Department of the Welsh Books Council, praised Jones’ characters, who went on to include Jaci Soch, Jack Do, Sosban Fach and the clownish Jac y Jwc. later ap-

She said: “They are so simple. There is nothing complicated about the characters and children feel safe and can empathise with them.

“That’s her main contribution, that she could create lovely characters that appeal to children. You can’t go wrong with Sali Mali.”

Jones wrote predominantly in the Welsh language, but her work has been translated into diverse languages such as English, German, Danish, Arabic, Norwegian, Spanish, Polish and Korean.

After the success of the Cyfres Darrllen Stori series, Jones went on to write the Llyfrau Dau Dau series of books.

During her career she authored around 20 books and contributed regularly to magazines such as Urdd.

Later on in her career she struck up a working relationship with illustrator Jac Jones, who would frequently visit her home to discuss his interpretations of her work.

Jones died in 1983 in the Rhuddlan area of Clwyd but her characters live on to this day.

Sali Mali has gone on to give children pleasure through a long-running television series on S4C, which has been a staple for many Welsh children, as well as an animated series narrated by Rhys Ifans and a theme tune sung by Cerys Matthews.

Many of Jones’ books have been re-published by Gymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion and many new books based on her characters have been written by other authors such as Dylan Williams.

Following her passing, the Welsh Books Council named their award honouring children’s authors who have made a significant contribution to literature in Wales as the Mary Vaughan Jones Award, in her memory.