A biography of Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, former MP for Merioneth, former Senedd member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy and the first Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, has been launched in Portmeirion.

The launch of Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Nation Builder by Aled Eurig, took place on Thursday, 2 September.

The book explores Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ political career from its beginning with his election to Westminster as a Plaid Cymru MP in 1974 to his retirement from the Senedd in Cardiff in 2021.

Elis-Thomas is regarded as a ‘founding father’ as the first Presiding Officer of the then National Assembly for Wales, stabilising the new institution and embedding devolution during its first tentative decade, and was described as a ‘true giant’ of Welsh devolution following his death in 2025.

He was a controversial and magnetic character, whose life and work is captured in this biography – branded a ‘maverick’, an ‘intellectual acrobat’ and a ‘political chameleon’, he was labelled a ‘terrorist’ for his interventions in Northern Ireland, and a ‘traitor’ for oppositional stances adopted towards nationalism. Despite a career often marked by controversy and fearless passion, his unique vision and perseverance was central to the creation of Wales’s first legislative parliament.

Author Aled Eurig, a journalist and broadcaster, formerly Head of News and Current Affairs for BBC Wales and constitutional adviser to the National Assembly for Wales, said about 80 people attended the launch, “including Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas’s family, his first wife Elen, his three sons Meilyr, Cai and Rolant, their families and Dafydd’s second wife, Lady Mair Elis-Thomas.”