Sheila Llewellyn

Sheila Llewellyn (born 1948) is a writer in Northern Ireland. Her first novel, Walking Wounded (2018), was based on events in Burma in the Second World War when a decision was made to kill some seriously injured soldiers who could not be evacuated, rather than leave them to possible torture by the approaching Japanese army. Her second novel, Winter in Tabriz (2021), set in Iran in 1979, won the inaugural Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, for a novel focusing on travel, in 2022. Philip Hensher chose it as one of his "Books of the Year" in The Spectator , describing it as "a revelation – long considered and slowly overwhelming with its sense of time and place".

Life

Sheila Llewellyn was born in 1948 in Manchester, England, of Welsh heritage. ^{[1] [2]} She has dual British/Irish citizenship, and lives and works in Northern Ireland. ^{[3] [4]} Llewellyn lived in Ghana with her father as a child, before moving back to Manchester for her education. ^[1] She attend the Goyt Bank Technical High School for Girls (now Offerton School), in Stockport, before studying psychology, education and creative writing at Manchester University, Oxford University and Queens University Belfast. In 2016 she also earned a PhD in creative writing from the Seamus Heaney Centre. ^[1]

Llewellyn's first novel, Walking Wounded (2018), was based on events in Burma in the Second World War when a decision was made to kill some seriously injured soldiers who could not be evacuated, rather than leave them to possible torture by the approaching Japanese army. ^[3] The Guardian 's reviewer called it a "quietly self-assured first novel" and "a beautifully turned piece of work", which bore comparison to Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. ^{[5] [6]}

Her second novel, Winter in Tabriz (2021), set in Iran in 1979, won the inaugural Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, for a novel focusing on travel, in 2022. ^{[7] [8]} Philip Hensher chose it as one of his "Books of the Year" in The Spectator , describing it as "a revelation – long considered and slowly overwhelming with its sense of time and place". ^[9]

Selected publications

• Walking Wounded (2108, Sceptre: ISBN   978-1473663107)
• Winter in Tabriz (2021, Sceptre: ISBN   978-1473663145)

References

1. Leonard, Sue (21 February 2018). "Sheila Llewellyn". Sue Leonard. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
2. "Sheila Llewellyn (Author)". amheath.com. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
3. White, Laurence (2 January 2018). "Incredible real-life story behind Sheila Llewellyn's brilliant first novel". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
4. Toner, Aine (7 August 2021). "Living and working in pre-revolutionary Iran, plus an interest in dissident writers, led to author Sheila Llewellyn's second historical fiction" . Retrieved 3 July 2023.
5. Lowry, Elizabeth (1 February 2018). "Walking Wounded by Sheila Llewellyn review – beautiful and humane debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
6. "ANOTHER FINE REVIEW FOR SHEILA LLEWELLYN - Write By The Sea Literary Festival". Write By The Sea. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
7. "Sheila Llewellyn wins Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize". Arts Council NI. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
8. "The Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize: Past winners". Society of Authors. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
9. "Books of the Year I — chosen by our regular reviewers". The Spectator. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2023.