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.
January 4, 2022
Manon Steffan Ros
Manon Steffan Ros was born in Snowdonia and worked as an actress and musician before becoming a full-time writer. Manon has written over 23 books for adults and children in the Welsh language and has won the Wales Book of the Year for her adult fiction as well as being four-times winner of the Tir […]
Read moreDecember 1, 2021
Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson was born in West Wales, and grew up in Newcastle Emlyn, a small market town on the banks of the River Teifi. Welsh was her first language, and the language of her family, and in her writing about Wales she is conscious of the rhythms of her language even though she writes in […]
Read moreNovember 1, 2021
Max Boyce, MBE
Max Boyce, singer-songwriter, poet and entertainer, was born in the village of Glynneath, south Wales, where he still lives with his wife, Jean. Despite the fact that his father was killed in a mining explosion a month before Max was born, Max went on to work underground in the local colliery at the age of […]
Read moreOctober 1, 2021
Nicola Davies
Nicola Davies is an award-winning author, whose many books for children include The Promise, Tiny, A First Book of Nature and King of the Sky. Nicola graduated in Zoology from King’s College, University of Cambridge, and studied geese, bats and whales before becoming a presenter for The Really Wild Show and the BBC Natural History Unit. She has been […]
Read moreSeptember 6, 2021
Rachel Trezise
Since graduating in Journalism and English at Glamorgan University in 2000, Rachel Trezise has established herself as one of Britain’s most outstanding and original young writers. ‘Most of her writing is marked by her harrowing experiences growing up in the Welsh valleys, but there is a lot of diversity in the work she has published […]
Read moreAugust 2, 2021
Bethany W. Pope
Bethany W. Pope is a British-American who currently lives and works in China, having lived in Wales for several years while studying for their MA and PhD in Creative Writing at Trinity St. David (Carmarthen) and Aberystwyth universities. When awarded dual UK/US nationality and a British passport, Pope chose Wales as their adopted country. Pope’s […]
Read moreJuly 1, 2021
Sharon Marie Jones
Sharon Marie Jones was born and raised in mountainous North Wales, immersed in magical folktales of giants and fairies. She now lives near Aberystwyth with her husband and sons. She studied English and Education at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, graduating with first class honours. She worked as a primary school teacher for 12 years, […]
Read moreMay 27, 2021
Sara Gethin
Sara Gethin’s latest novel, Emmet and Me, is set on the bleakly beautiful coast of Connemara, and has been recently published by Honno Press in May 2021. Her debut novel, Not Thomas (Honno), written in the voice of a neglected five-year-old boy, was shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker prize in 2017 and the Waverton Good […]
Read moreApril 30, 2021
John Sam Jones
In his clear and absorbing memoir The Journey is Home, John Sam Jones writes of a life lived on the edge. It is a story of journeys and realisation, of acceptance and joy. From a boyhood on the coast of Wales to a scholarship at Berkley in California as the AIDS epidemic began to take […]
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