The Hindu Bard

The first print collection of Dorothy Bonarjee's verse

In February 1914, Dorothy 'Dorf' Bonarjee was awarded the Bardic chair at the UCW Eisteddfod for verse. She was the first woman and first non-European to win Wales' most prestigious literary prize.

In their 34th Welsh Women's Classic, Honno Welsh Women's Press presents the first publication of Dorothy Bonarjee's verse alongside a vivid account of the poet's extraordinary life in India, London, Wales and France.

Poet Dorothy 'Dorf' Bonarjee was born in India in 1894 into an elite Bengali family. As a child, she moved to London and in 1912 she enrolled at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. Two years later, she was awarded the Bardic chair at the Eisteddfod, and went on to publish poems in Welsh journals. Bonarjee later took a law degree at the University of London and eloped with a French artist. France remained her home for the rest of her life.