The original Sali Mali, as drawn by Jac Jones, published in 1969.

Sali Mali is a popular Welsh children's book and television character, originally created by author Mary Vaughan Jones and illustrated by Jac Jones during the 1960s and 1970s. Many Welsh-speaking children learnt to read by reading Sali Mali books.

[edit] Books

Following the death of Mary Vaughan Jones, many of her original books were re-published. The copyright belonged to Cymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion until the publisher was bought by Gomer Press in 2009. Many new titles for children were authored by Dylan Williams and illustrated by Simon Bradbury. One of these books courted controversy in December 2007, when Sali Mali a'r Hwdi Chwim was published, in the story Sali Mali's iPod is stolen by a hoodie. Several bookshops boycotted the book by refusing to stock it.^[1]

[edit] Television series

An animated Sali Mali series was produced by Siriol Productions and Calon for S4C. The theme tune to this was sung by Cerys Matthews, the series is narrated by Rhys Ifans.^[2] Sali Mali is also broadcast in English on Nickelodeon (TV network) & is currently being broadcasted on( BabyFirst TV and has also been sold to Scandinavian counties.^[3]

A pre-school children's television series, Caffi Sali Mali, was produced by Sianco for S4C. It was written by Ifana Savill^[4] using the characters created by Mary Vaughan Jones, including Sali Mali's pet bird, Jac-do, and her good friend, Jac y Jwc. This series is produced using actors in costumes and puppets. Sali Mali runs a cafe in the small village of "Pentre Bach" (English Little Village. A follow up series, Pentre Bach, which consisted of 52 episodes, was filmed using a purpose built village, located in Blaenpennal, which is also a visitor centre run by Ifana and Adrian Savill.^[5] The rights to the series were bought by Al-Jazeera in April 2006, to be shown across the Middle East in Arabic.^[6]

[edit] Other

Sali Mali has also been referenced in popular culture, due to her presence in so many Welsh people's childhoods. A song was named after her on the Moog Droog EP by the Super Furry Animals in 1995. The Threatmantics have also named a single in her honour, which was released in August 2007.

[edit] References

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