Elaine Morgan statue to be unveiled in Mountain Ash

Elaine Morgan was a global best-seller and feted as a feminist heroine

A statue of Elaine Morgan, one of Wales' leading writers and feminists, is to be unveiled.

The coal miner's daughter - an author, TV writer, lecturer and scientific rebel - died in 2013 at the age of 92.

The monument in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, is thought to be only the second statue of a named, non-fictional woman in an outdoor space in Wales.

A statue of Betty Campbell, the country's first black head teacher, was unveiled in Cardiff in September.

Journalist and broadcaster Carolyn Hitt said Dr Morgan had been her heroine who "from her desk in Mountain Ash had made an impact on world feminism".

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Ms Hitt sits on the Monumental Welsh Women Committee, a group that aims to deliver five public statues of real women in five years.

She said a statue of Dr Morgan would help inspire future generations: "Elaine for me particularly represented the valleys woman.

"She came from the humbleness of backgrounds, a miner's daughter, and yet changed the world."

Elaine Morgan's long writing career began in the 1950s after she won a competition

Dr Morgan, who was born in Hopkinstown, Pontypridd, studied at Oxford University, where she graduated in English.

Her writing career began in the 1950s and she joined the BBC, going on to have a career in television that saw her become one of the industry's leading drama writers.

In the 1970s Dr Morgan challenged the scientific establishment with a new theory of human evolution.

Her book The Descent of Woman became an international bestseller, turning her into a feminist hero who toured the US three times.

She lived most of her life "in her beloved Wales" in Mountain Ash and was awarded the freedom of Rhondda Cynon Taf just months before her death.

Ms Hitt said Dr Morgan was one of the most brilliant intellects Wales has ever produced.

"She had a huge impact on me as a valleys girl and proved that it didn't matter where you came from, you could aim high," she said.

"I really hope her spirit will live on in this statue, and young girls will walk past her in Mountain Ash for generations and they'll be inspired by her too."

Emma Rodgers, who created the statue of Cilla Black in Liverpool, is casting the monument at her Castle Fine Art Foundry in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Powys.

It is due to be unveiled on the 18th March outside the Tŷ Calon Lân Medical Centre in Mountain Ash.

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