An award-winning poet and playwright, Menna is the author of ten collections of poetry and two novels, and has edited a number of poetry and academic books. She has written eight stage plays, six radio plays and has adapted two plays for television. In 2008, she received a Creative Arts award from Arts Council of Wales to write a book on the subject of sleep.
She has been a fortnightly feature columnist with the Western Mail, the national newspaper of Wales since 1995. Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and her most recent collection is
Perfect Blemish/Perffaith Nam (Bloodaxe, 2007). One of her poems was chosen for the London Underground poster poems in spring 2009. She was made Poet Laureate for Children in Wales in 2002 and is Director of the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at Trinity University Carmarthen since 1997 and Royal Literary Fellow at Swansea University since 2006.
She has also worked for the British Council and was part of a team of mentors for the ‘Crossing Borders’ project sponsored by the Council to mentor African writers. In 2010, she edited a book
Sunflowers in Your Eyes (Cinnamon Press) which featured four of the poets who were mentored through the scheme. She also travels the world for readings, residencies and workshops, and last year was awarded the prestigious International Foreign Poetry Prize for her poetry in Olbia, Sardinia. She is currently Writing Director of Creative Writing at Trinity St Davids University.