Emyr Humphreys, born in 1919 in Prestatyn, north Wales, is one of the foremost Welsh novelists writing in English. He is the author of over twenty novels, of short story volumes, verse and non-fiction work, and was described by the poet R.S. Thomas as 'the supreme interpreter of Welsh life'. In the early 40’s, as a conscientious objector, and whilst studying history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he was sent to work on the land during the Second World War. He subsequently went as a war relief worker to the Middle East and then to Italy. In the mid-fifties, he joined BBC Wales as a drama producer, before taking a lectureship in Drama at the University of Wales, Bangor. In 1972, after remarkable success as a young novelist, winning the Somerset Maugham Award for Hear and Forgive (1952) and the Hawthornden Prize for A Toy Epic (1958), his most famous novel, written in both Welsh and English, he embarked on a career as a full-time writer. His work, which has remained true throughout his career to the realist novel, is concerned with goodness, with social and political conscience. Mass culture is an opiate, which the necessarily singular voice of the fiction writer must (in however beleaguered a manner) continue to oppose.' In his volume of short stories, Old People are a Problem (Seren, 2003), he explores a variety of situations in which the young and the old are obliged to live together at the beginning of the 21st century. His most recent work is The Woman at the Window (Seren, 2009).

It has strength and beauty many more experienced writers might envy ... the sense of youth is beautifully conveyed. One feels the strange mixture of nostalgia and fear that remembered boyhood rouses - Daily Telegraph Emyr Humphreys has expanded his powers and strikes a new note, evocatory and lyrical. His characters are sharp and clear, more than this they change and grow, revealing new aspects, new 'characters' that strike themselves and us with an echoing surprise - The Sunday Times Beautifully conceived and written - The Observer Emyr Humphreys is one of the most masterful yet natural-seeming authors of fiction in these islands today - The Scotsman WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE

Emyr Humphreys, born in 1919 in Prestatyn, north Wales, is one of the foremost Welsh novelists writing in English. He is the author of over twenty novels, of short story volumes, verse and non-fiction work, and was described by the poet R.S. Thomas as 'the supreme interpreter of Welsh life'. In the early 40’s, as a conscientious objector, and whilst studying history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he was sent to work on the land during the Second World War. He subsequently went as a war relief worker to the Middle East and then to Italy. In the mid-fifties, he joined BBC Wales as a drama producer, before taking a lectureship in Drama at the University of Wales, Bangor. In 1972, after remarkable success as a young novelist, winning the Somerset Maugham Award for Hear and Forgive (1952) and the Hawthornden Prize for A Toy Epic (1958), his most famous novel, written in both Welsh and English, he embarked on a career as a full-time writer. His work, which has remained true throughout his career to the realist novel, is concerned with goodness, with social and political conscience. Mass culture is an opiate, which the necessarily singular voice of the fiction writer must (in however beleaguered a manner) continue to oppose.' In his volume of short stories, Old People are a Problem (Seren, 2003), he explores a variety of situations in which the young and the old are obliged to live together at the beginning of the 21st century. His most recent work is The Woman at the Window (Seren, 2009).

It has strength and beauty many more experienced writers might envy ... the sense of youth is beautifully conveyed. One feels the strange mixture of nostalgia and fear that remembered boyhood rouses - Daily Telegraph Emyr Humphreys has expanded his powers and strikes a new note, evocatory and lyrical. His characters are sharp and clear, more than this they change and grow, revealing new aspects, new 'characters' that strike themselves and us with an echoing surprise - The Sunday Times Beautifully conceived and written - The Observer Emyr Humphreys is one of the most masterful yet natural-seeming authors of fiction in these islands today - The Scotsman WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE

Emyr Humphreys, born in 1919 in Prestatyn, north Wales, is one of the foremost Welsh novelists writing in English. He is the author of over twenty novels, of short story volumes, verse and non-fiction work, and was described by the poet R.S. Thomas as 'the supreme interpreter of Welsh life'. In the early 40’s, as a conscientious objector, and whilst studying history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he was sent to work on the land during the Second World War. He subsequently went as a war relief worker to the Middle East and then to Italy. In the mid-fifties, he joined BBC Wales as a drama producer, before taking a lectureship in Drama at the University of Wales, Bangor. In 1972, after remarkable success as a young novelist, winning the Somerset Maugham Award for Hear and Forgive (1952) and the Hawthornden Prize for A Toy Epic (1958), his most famous novel, written in both Welsh and English, he embarked on a career as a full-time writer. His work, which has remained true throughout his career to the realist novel, is concerned with goodness, with social and political conscience. Mass culture is an opiate, which the necessarily singular voice of the fiction writer must (in however beleaguered a manner) continue to oppose.' In his volume of short stories, Old People are a Problem (Seren, 2003), he explores a variety of situations in which the young and the old are obliged to live together at the beginning of the 21st century. His most recent work is The Woman at the Window (Seren, 2009).

It has strength and beauty many more experienced writers might envy ... the sense of youth is beautifully conveyed. One feels the strange mixture of nostalgia and fear that remembered boyhood rouses - Daily Telegraph Emyr Humphreys has expanded his powers and strikes a new note, evocatory and lyrical. His characters are sharp and clear, more than this they change and grow, revealing new aspects, new 'characters' that strike themselves and us with an echoing surprise - The Sunday Times Beautifully conceived and written - The Observer Emyr Humphreys is one of the most masterful yet natural-seeming authors of fiction in these islands today - The Scotsman WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE