Emyr Humphreys, who lives on Anglesey, is the author of more than 20 novels, as well as volumes of poetry, stories and a history of Wales.
He was born in Prestatyn in 1919. An English-speaker, he learned Welsh after the burning of the bombing school on the Llyn peninsula in 1936, when his interest in Welsh culture was first awakened.
He read history at Aberystwyth, and registered as a conscientious objector in 1939, working on farms in Pembrokeshire and North Wales as a result. Later in the war he served as a relief worker in the Middle East and Italy, and became an official of the Save the Children Fund under the UN.
Emyr Humphreys later taught before joining the BBC as a drama producer in 1955. Ten years later he moved to North West Wales and became a lecturer in drama at Bangor University, but left in 1972 to write full-time.
His first novel, Little Kingdom, was published in 1946. He went on to win the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1958 for Hear and Forgive, and the Hawthornden Prize in 1958 for A Toy Epic. He has also written and directed many television films in both Welsh and English.
In The Taliesin Tradition Emyr Humphreys explores how literature in Wales has reshaped and reasserted Welsh identity and the effect of figures such as sixth century poet Taliesin, Iolo Morganwg, Lloyd George and Saunders Lewis.
Emyr Humphreys stills lives in Llanfairpwll and is still busy writing. His latest book, Old People are a Problem, is a collection of stories especially for an aging society. They reflect the generation which has lived though at least one world war, the Cold War, the end of the great empires and huge technological advances.
Books by Emyr Humphreys include:
Little KingdomHear and ForgiveA Toy EpicThe Taliesin TraditionOutside the House of BaalUnconditional SurrenderGift of a DaughterOld People are a Problem
Thanks to Gwen Robyns of Tokoroa, New Zealand, and Leslie Roberts of Silver Springs, Florida, for suggesting Emyr Humphreys.
New award goes to Emyr Humphreys.
One of Wales' leading novelists and a writer on Welsh culture.
