{{Short description|Welsh author and advocate of Welsh-language education, 1914–2003}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} '''Norah Isaac''' (1914 – 3 August 2003) was a Welsh author, drama producer and campaigner for Welsh-language education.<ref name="BBC obit">{{cite web| url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/welsh/hi/newsid_3120000/newsid_3121100/3121109.stm|title=Marw Norah Isaac| date=3 August 2003| access-date=7 April 2013| publisher=bbc.co.uk|language=cy}}</ref> She became head of the country's first Welsh-medium school, Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd, in 1939.
==Background== Norah Isaac was born in 1914 in the village of Caerau near Maesteg in the old county of Glamorgan, Wales. She was educated at Glamorgan Training College in Barry.<ref name="Stephens">{{Cite book |editor1-first=Meic |editor1-last=Stephens |editor1-link=Meic Stephens |title=The New Companion to the Literature of Wales |year=1998 |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff |page=[https://archive.org/details/newcompaniontoli0000unse/page/353 353] |isbn=0-7083-1383-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/newcompaniontoli0000unse/page/353}}</ref>
==Welsh-language advocate== Isaac was an advocate of the Welsh language. In 1935 she became head of the Glamorgan division of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a Welsh-medium youth movement, remaining there until her appointment as founding head of Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd in 1939, the country's first school to teach in Welsh.<ref name="Stephens"/><ref name="Trinity">{{Cite web |url=http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk/en/news/newsarchives/trinityuniversitycollege/name,986,en.html |title=Alumni Reunion 2008 |date=29 August 2008 |access-date=7 April 2013 |publisher=trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk |archive-date=25 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725170042/http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk/en/news/newsarchives/trinityuniversitycollege/name,986,en.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
When Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd opened as a private school, Isaac was the sole teacher and there were only seven pupils.<ref>Williams (2003), p. 46.</ref> The success Isaac brought to it caused annual growth, until by 1945 there were four teachers and 71 pupils in an original building was too small for its purpose.<ref>Williams (2003), p. 47.</ref> The school moved to a country house near Llanbadarn and changed its name to Ysgol Lluest. Isaac remained as head teacher until 1949. During her time there she and Ifan ab Owen Edwards, who established the school, campaigned for the introduction of Welsh-medium schools throughout Wales.<ref>Williams (2003), p. 49.</ref> Between 1950 and 1958 she lectured at her old college in Barry, before becoming the principal lecturer in Welsh and Drama at Trinity College Carmarthen, establishing the first Welsh Drama Department in Wales.<ref name="Stephens"/><ref name="Trinity"/>
==Publications and plays== Isaac published several books, including two collections of short stories, ''Storiau Awr Hamdden i Blant'' (1979 and 1982), and a monograph on Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards.<ref name="Stephens"/> She also wrote travel books, after visits to Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.<ref name="BBC obit"/> She produced several plays based on major Welsh cultural figures, notably Iolo Morganwg (1974), Griffith Jones (1984) and William Williams (1991).<ref name="Stephens"/>
==Honours== Along with her drama and literary work, Isaac was an important figure in the National Eisteddfod and awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the National Eisteddfod for her lifelong commitment, the first woman to be given this honour.<ref name="BBC obit"/><ref name="Trinity"/> After her death in August 2003,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cylchgronaucymru.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1386666/llgc-id:1426522/llgc-id:1426719/getText |title=Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion - 2003, (New Series, Vol. 10, 2004) 2003: society notes |access-date=7 April 2013 |publisher=llgc.org.uk}}</ref> Iolo Wyn Williams declared in his book ''Our Children's Language: The Welsh-Medium Schools of Wales, 1939–2000'' that Isaac was "the most influential individual in the history of Welsh-medium education".<ref>Williams (2003), p. 50.</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== *{{Cite book |first=Iolo Wyn |last=Williams |title=Our Children's Language: The Welsh-Medium Schools of Wales, 1939-2000 |year=2003 |publisher=Y Lolfa |location=Cardiff |isbn=9780862437046}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac, Norah}} Category:1914 births Category:2003 deaths Category:20th-century Welsh short story writers Category:20th-century Welsh educators Category:20th-century Welsh women writers Category:People from Bridgend County Borough Category:Welsh-language writers Category:Welsh language activists Category:Welsh women dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Welsh dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Welsh women educators Category:People associated with Trinity University College Category:Welsh women short story writers Category:Welsh travel writers Category:British women travel writers