Ar Moal Erwan

Erwan ar Moal, registered as Yves Le Moal, was a Breton writer born on 9th February 1874 in Coadout ( Trégor, Côtes-du-Nord) and died in the same district on 14th February 1957. From a peasant background, he only learnt French from the age of six. A pupil in the Guingamp Lycée of Notre Dame, he then joins the Saint Brieuc seminary in 1894 and remains there for two years without joining the priesthood. He became a teacher and began a litterary career in 1902 with the publishing of a collection of tales, 'Pipi Gonto'. He becomes chief editor of 'Kroaz ar vretoned' (The Breton's Cross). A Breton poet and member of the 'Gorsedd' of Brittany under the bardic name of 'Dir-na-dor' (steel that does not break), he is an activist with l'Abbé Perrot for the 'Bleun Brug' movement and founded, with August Bocher, the magazine 'Breiz', a weekly Catholic journal which was printed from 1927 until 1939 under his editorship.