Author of the Month
Each month on the Libraries Wales website, we will focus on an inspiring author based in or writing about Wales. You’ll have an introduction to their latest book, a short biography of the author, what inspires them to write, and any advice they have for young writers, all available in exclusive interviews which you can read here.
Since introducing this feature, some of our focused authors to date have been Jon Blake, Dai Smith, Rob Gittins, and our very own Children’s Laureate Wales, Eloise Williams.
Are you a teacher or librarian? A special flyer will be available to download and print every month based on each of our showcased authors that can be used for educational purposes.
We will focus on two authors every month writing in English and Welsh. Link to the Welsh-language Author of the Month available here.
October 5, 2022
Eloise Williams
Eloise was the inaugural Children’s Laureate Wales 2019-2021, an initiative run by Literature Wales. Having originally trained in Theatre at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, she went on to work as a performer, theatre maker and creative practitioner for over a decade before studying for a Masters in Creative and Media Writing at […]
Read moreSeptember 6, 2022
Rebecca F. John
Rebecca F. John grew up in Pwll , a small coastal village in Carmarthenshire. She holds a BA in English with Creative Writing and an MA in Creative Writing from Swansea University, as well as a PGCE PCET from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio […]
Read moreAugust 1, 2022
Nigel Jarrett
Nigel Jarrett is a former daily-newspaperman and a double prizewinner: the Rhys Davies Award for short fiction and the inaugural Templar Shorts award. His first story collection, Funderland, was widely praised. His debut poetry collection, Miners at the Quarry Pool, was described by Agenda poetry magazine as ‘a virtuoso performance’. Jarrett’s first novel, Slowly Burning, […]
Read moreJuly 8, 2022
Cath Barton
Cath Barton is an English writer living in Wales. She is the author of three novellas: The Plankton Collector (2018, New Welsh Review), winner of the New Welsh Writing Awards AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella 2017, In the Sweep of the Bay (2020, Louise Walters Books), shortlisted for Best Novella in the Saboteur Awards 2021, and […]
Read moreJune 6, 2022
Philippa Holloway
Philippa Holloway is an author and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Staffordshire University. Although living in England, her heart is very much still at home in Wales. She has won prizes in literary awards including the Fish Publishing Prize, The Scythe Prize, and the Writers & Artists Working Class Writer’s Prize. She is co-editor […]
Read moreMay 9, 2022
Emily Vanderploeg
A Canadian grandchild of Dutch and Hungarian immigrants, Emily Vanderploeg explores issues of language, ritual, death and identity in poems about her family which open the collection in a close intimate space, which is then ruptured as she and the poems travel to Wales and elsewhere, physically and emotionally, leading us to look at the […]
Read moreApril 4, 2022
Cyril James Morris
Born in Saundersfoot, Cyril James Morris joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice at age sixteen. He served twenty-two years as marine and aeronautical engineer, followed by training as a helicopter anti-submarine pilot and eventually as a helicopter maintenance test pilot. After his retirement he became a lobster fisherman in Saundersfoot for a couple of […]
Read moreMarch 1, 2022
Rae Howells
Rae Howells is a poet, journalist, academic and lavender farmer from Swansea. She’s won both the Welsh International and Rialto Nature and Place poetry competitions. Her work has featured in a wide range of journals including Magma, The Rialto, Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, Acumen, Envoi, Poetry Ireland, Black Bough, Marble and The Cardiff Review, as well as in the Poetry Business anthology, The Result is What […]
Read moreFebruary 1, 2022
Maggie Ogunbanwo
Author Maggie Ogunbanwo is based in north Wales where she runs Maggie’s African Twist, selling predominantly African sourced or themed food products both on and offline. These days Maggie’s African Twist operates from The Red Lion in the village of Penygroes, surrounded by the beautiful Snowdonia countryside with its rich heritage and culture. Its roots […]
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