Grahame Davies

Last updated

Grahame Davies

CVO
Born1964 (age 58–59)
Coedpoeth, Wales
Occupationpoet, author, librettist, editor and literary critic
Education
Website
grahamedavies.com

Grahame Davies CVO (born 1964) is a poet, author, editor, librettist, literary critic and former journalist. He was brought up in the former coal mining village of Coedpoeth near Wrexham in north east Wales. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Education

After gaining a degree in English Literature at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, he qualified as a journalist with the Thomson Organisation at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1997, he was awarded a doctorate by the University of Wales for his study, written in Welsh, of the work of R. S. Thomas, Saunders Lewis, T.S. Eliot and Simone Weil, whom he identified as part of an anti-modern trend in Western culture in the 20th Century. [3]

Work

His career as a journalist and producer between 1986 and 2012 brought him a number of Welsh and industry awards. In 1997, his first volume of poetry, Adennill Tir (Barddas), a book arising from the 10 years he spent in Merthyr Tydfil in the south Wales Valleys, won the Harri Webb Memorial Prize. [3]

In 1999, his study of Wales and the anti-modern movement, Sefyll yn y Bwlch (University of Wales Press, 1999), the product of his doctoral research, was published. It went "straight to the front rank of criticism of our day," according to the critic Dr Dafydd Glyn Jones (Barn), and was described as "a signal book" by the critic Dr Angharad Price (New Welsh Review). In 2000, he co-edited Oxygen (Seren), a bilingual anthology of Welsh poets aged under 45. [3]

In 2001, his second volume of poetry, Cadwyni Rhyddid (Barddas), appeared. It went to a second edition within a few months of publication, won the Wales Arts Council's 2002 Book of the Year award at the Hay on Wye Festival of Literature, together with a prize of £3,000. In 2002, Seren Press published his literary anthology, The Chosen People, which details the relationship of the Welsh and the Jewish people as reflected in literature. [3] [4]

Also in 2002, he edited a 160-page edition of the Bulgarian literary magazine Plamak (“Flame”) dedicated to Welsh literature, the first such anthology of Welsh writing in the Balkans. In 2002 Ffiniau/Borders appeared from Gomer press, a bilingual volume of poetry jointly with Elin ap Hywel. [3] [5]

In 2003, he chaired the panel of judges for the Welsh Book of the Year Awards. The first prize of £5,000 went to Jerry Hunter's Llwch Cenhedloedd. [6] In 2004 his first novel Rhaid i Bopeth Newid was published by Gomer. It was longlisted for the £10,000 Book of the Year prize, 2005, and was described by Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas in the Welsh poetry periodical Taliesin as 'the first post-national novel.' Also in 2004, his selection of Welsh poetry in Asturian translation appeared in Spain from Kêr ar Mor press under the title Nel país del borrina (The Country of the Clouds). In 2005, his selection of Welsh poetry in Galician translation appeared under the title of No país de la brétema from VTP Editorial. [3]

He was a board member of the Welsh Academi from 2005-2011 and was the Welsh language editor of Poetry Wales magazine for several years until 2002. He won the vers libre prize in the National Eisteddfod in 1994 and 2022, the sonnet prize in 2004 and 2016, the Poem Suitable for Song prize in 2017 and the Welsh Academi's Stomp competition in 2001. His work has been translated into several languages, including English, German, Latvian, Maltese, Bulgarian, Polish, Asturian and Galician, and is widely anthologised, appearing in publications as diverse as The Times, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry London, the Literary Review in America, and the Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English. [3] His poem 'Departed' was Poem of the Week in The Guardian.

He is a frequent contributor of articles and reviews to journals such as Poetry Wales, Barn, Taliesin, Planet and New Welsh Review, and his poetry is on the syllabus for school pupils in Wales. He was a regular columnist with Barddas. He reads regularly at festivals and venues, including the Berlin Poesiefestival, the National Eisteddfod, the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, several times at the Hay on Wye Festival of Literature and at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He has represented Wales at literary events in Europe, United States and Canada, and frequently appears on television and radio. As a literary critic he has chaired the panel of judges for the £10,000 2004 Book of the Year Award, and has also adjudicated other major competitions such as the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry and the National Eisteddfod's 2006 and 2011 Literary Medal Competitions. He was Vice President of Goodenough College in London and an Honorary Research Fellow in Cardiff University. [3] He has carried out many major commissions as a librettist for classical composers, including Sir Karl Jenkins, Paul Mealor, Sarah Class, Debbie Wiseman, Tom Harrold, Roderick Williams, Peter Boyer and Joanna Gill.

For the 2023 coronation of Charles III, Davies' text Sacred Fire was set to a composition by Sarah Class and performed by South African soprano Pretty Yende. [7]

Selected publications

Contributed to:

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Finch (poet)</span> Welsh writer

Peter Finch is a Welsh author, psychogeographer and poet living in Cardiff, Wales.

Gillian Clarke is a Welsh poet and playwright, who also edits, broadcasts, lectures and translates from Welsh into English. She co-founded Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in North Wales.

David James Jones, commonly known by his bardic name Gwenallt, was a Welsh poet, critic, and scholar, and one of the most important figures of 20th-century Welsh-language literature. He created his bardic name by transposing Alltwen, the name of the village across the river from his birthplace.

The Wales Book of the Year is a Welsh literary award given annually to the best Welsh and English language works in the fields of fiction and literary criticism by Welsh or Welsh interest authors. Established in 1992, the awards are currently administered by Literature Wales, and supported by the Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government and the Welsh Books Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Jenkins</span> Anglo-Welsh poet

Nigel Jenkins was an Anglo-Welsh poet. He was an editor, journalist, psychogeographer, broadcaster and writer of creative non-fiction, as well as being a lecturer at Swansea University and director of the creative writing programme there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Evans-Jones</span> Welsh poet

Sir (Albert) Cynan Evans-Jones CBE, more commonly known within Wales by his bardic name of Cynan, was a Welsh war poet and dramatist.

Menna Elfyn, FLSW is a Welsh poet, playwright, columnist, and editor who writes in Welsh. She has been widely commended and translated. She was imprisoned for her campaigning as a Welsh-language activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwyneth Lewis</span> Inaugural National Poet of Wales

Gwyneth Denver Davies, FLSW, known professionally as Gwyneth Lewis, is a Welsh poet, who was the inaugural National Poet of Wales in 2005. She wrote the text that appears over the Wales Millennium Centre.

Mihangel Morgan is a Welsh author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twm Morys</span> Welsh poet and musician

Twm Morys is a Welsh poet and musician.

T. Gerald Hunter FLSW, more commonly known as Jerry Hunter, is an American graduate of the University of Cincinnati (BA), Aberystwyth (MPhil) and Harvard University (PhD). Originally from Cincinnati, he now lives in Wales and has held academic posts at Cardiff and more recently Bangor University, where he is currently (2015) a professor in the School of Welsh and deputy vice chancellor of the university He was a founding member of the pressure group Cymuned and is former editor of the Academi's literary periodical Taliesin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Jenkins (poet)</span> Welsh poet (born 1953)

Mike Jenkins is a Welsh poet and fiction writer in English. He is also the father of the Plaid Cymru politician Bethan Sayed and of the journalist Ciaran Jenkins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angharad Tomos</span> Welsh author and activist, born 1958

Angharad Tomos is a Welsh author and prominent language activist. She is a recipient of the Tir na n-Og Award.

Christine Evans is a poet of Welsh origin, born in the West Riding of Yorkshire and writing in English. She lives in North Wales. Her book Cometary Phrases was Welsh Book of the Year in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howell Elvet Lewis</span> Welsh poet and preacher (1860–1953)

Howell Elvet Lewis, widely known by his bardic name Elfed, was a Welsh Congregational minister, hymn-writer, and devotional poet, who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1924 to 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine James</span> Welsh poet and academic

Christine James FLSW is a Welsh poet and academic. She served as the first female Archdruid of Wales from June 2013 until June 2016. She first presided over the ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod in the 2013 Eisteddfod in Denbigh. Like all holders, she qualified by winning a major literary prize at a previous National Eisteddfod. She was elected Cofiadur (Recorder) of the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod in 2017, again as the first woman to hold the post. She is a recipient of the Wales Book of the Year.

Elena Puw Morgan was a Welsh writer. She became the first woman to win the Literary Medal at the National Eisteddfod, with the novel Y Graith in 1938. In addition to novels for an adult audience, Morgan published Welsh-language children's books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hughes Jones</span> Welsh poet and writer (1895–1966)

Thomas Hughes Jones was a Welsh poet and writer from Ceredigion (Cardiganshire) in West Wales. He wrote several collections of stories and contributed to various journals, including Welsh Outlook, throughout his career. In 1940 he won the Literature Medal for his story, "Sgweier Hafila", at the National Eisteddfod. His pen name was generally abbreviated to "T. Hughes Jones".

Evan Gwyndaf Evans or "Gwyndaf" was a Welsh poet who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1966 to 1969.

John Davies is a Welsh poet whose first collection, The Strangers, was published in 1974. He was awarded the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize in 1985.

References

  1. ↑ "Grahame Davies | Seren Books".
  2. ↑ "Grahame Davies - Authors". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Davies, Grahame". The Writers of Wales Database. Literature Wales. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  4. ↑ "BBC CYMru'r BYD - Adloniant - Llyfrau".
  5. ↑ "Elin Ap Hywel (poet) - United Kingdom - Poetry International". Archived from the original on 19 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "BBC - Cymru - Enillwyr y blynyddoedd".
  7. ↑ Limbu, Dawn; PA Media (16 April 2023). "Bristol composer's pride in writing music for King's coronation". BBC News. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.