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Grahame Davies

Winner of Wales Arts Council's Book of the Year Award, 2002

"One of the clearest public poetic voices of his generation."

Grahame Davies is a Welsh poet, novelist, editor and literary critic, who has won numerous prizes, including the Wales Book of the Year Award.

He is the author of 12 books in Welsh and English, including The Chosen People, a study of the relationship of the Welsh and Jewish peoples, a novel, Everything Must Change, about the French philosopher Simone Weil, and the work of psychogeography, Real Wrexham.

A native of Wrexham, now based in Cardiff, he has a degree in English from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, and a PhD from Cardiff University, where he is an honorary fellow in the department of religious studies. He is a fellow of Goodenough College, London, and travels internationally as a reader and lecturer. His poetry has been translated into many languages.

Critics' comments

"One of the most independent, and as such, most interesting voices of contemporary Welsh-language poetry."
Gerwyn Wiliams

"As a novel of ideas Everything Must Change is a great intellectual achievement and a fascinating state of the nation novel."
Alyce von Rothkirch.

"This is the first post-nationalist novel," Dafydd Elis-Thomas on Rhaid i Bopeth Newid.

"One of the clearest public poetic voices of his generation," Emyr Lewis

“He sees through the deception and falseness of urban media life better than anyone, and he’s scathing in his vision of the emptiness of city existence...this poet has sufficient mastery of language to disturb and reach the roots of the soul.” Alan Llwyd.

"Poems which brilliantly describe Welsh life in the capital." Peter Finch.

“There’s a new world-view on our everyday lives here, overloaded with memorable images and phrases,” Menna Elfyn.

“He has an incredible gift of expression. There’s scarcely a poem in the volume that doesn’t contain truly original and clever phrases.” Meirion MacIntyre Huws.

Biography

Grahame Davies is a poet, novelist, editor and literary critic, who has won numerous awards, including the Book of the Year Award in Wales in 2002, a competition for which he was also longlisted in 2005.

He was born in 1964 and brought up in the former coal mining village of Coedpoeth near Wrexham in north east Wales.

After gaining a degree in English Literature at CCAT (now Anglia Ruskin University) Cambridge, he qualified as a journalist with the Thomson Organisation at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and since 1986 has worked in the media in south Wales, winning a number of Welsh and UK industry awards.

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.

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.

In 1998, he was second to Emyr Lewis in the competition for the National Eisteddfod Crown.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

In 2005, Seren published The Big Book of Cardiff, an anthology of contemporary writing about Cardiff, co-edited by Peter Finch and Grahame Davies.

Also in 2005, his third volume of original Welsh-language poetry appeared from Barddas, under the title Achos (Cause).

In 2006, his anthology of work by and about refugees and asylum seekers in Wales, Gwyl y Blaidd / Festival of the Wolf, appeared from Parthian/Hafan, edited jointly with Tom Cheesman and Sylvie Hoffman.

In 2007, Seren published Everything Must Change, an English-language novel based on the successful Rhaid i Bopeth Newid.

Also in 2007, Seren published Real Wrexham, a work of psychogeography in the Real series edited by Peter Finch.

His work has been translated into several languages, including English, German, Italian, Latvian, Maltese, Bulgarian, Polish, Asturian, Galician, and Guglienesano, has appeared in publications as diverse as The Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, Poetry London, the Literary Review in America, Orbis (#136 Spring 2006), Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English, and Absinthe (Michigan, USA, 3007), has been widely anthologised and is also on the education syllabus in Wales. He is a regular columnist with Barddas and a frequent contributor of articles and reviews to journals such as Poetry Wales, Barn, Taliesin, Planet and New Welsh Review. He regularly reads and lectures in the UK and worldwide, frequently appears on television and radio, has completed several high-profile poetry commissions, and collaborates extensively with musical and visual artists. Fuller details are below.

Major Awards, Scholarships etc:

• 2009: Ruth Howarth Literature Award for Real Wrexham
• 2008: Honorary Research Fellowship, Cardiff University.
• 2007: Academi Bursary Award for Wales and the Muslims.
• 2004: Academi Bursary Award for Everything Must Change
• 2004: Fellowship of Goodenough College, London.
• 2004: Cerdd Deyrnged, Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru.
• 2004: Longlist for Book of the Year award for Rhaid i Bopeth Newid
• 2002: Welsh Arts Council Book of the Year Award for Cadwyni Rhyddid.
• 2001: Winner, Stomp Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Dinbych, Yr Academi.
• 1998: Welsh Arts Council Writer's Bursary Award for Wales and the Jews.
• 1997: Harri Webb Memorial Poetry Prize for Adennill Tir.
• 1994: Vers Libre Prize at National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Major Commissions, Residencies, Visits, Festivals, Lectures.

• 2009: Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham, UK.
• 2009: Harvard University, U.S.A. Lecture.
• 2008: Readings in Guglionesi, Italy.
• 2008: Five literary readings in Argentina.
• 2007: North American tour: readings and launch of Everything Must Change.in Delta, Pennsylvania; Westport, Connecticut, and Chrysler Building, New York, and lecture at Yale University, Massachussetts. Wales Arts International.
• 2007: Memorial Poem for Children's Commissioner for Wales.
• 2007: Hay on Wye Festival of Literature, Readings. Launch of 'Poets' Portraits' exhibition.
• 2007. Imperial College, London. Lecture.
• 2007: Artist in Residence in Summer school of the British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia, Norwich.
• 2007: Subject of half-hour BBC Wales All Things Considered programme
• 2006: Delta, Pennsylvania. Readings
• 2006. Cape Town, South Africa. University of the Western Cape. Lecture.
• 2005: Madrid, Spain. Launch of La Pais de la Borrina. British Council.
• 2005: Canu'n Rhydd conference, Llandudno, Academi. Readings and panel.
• 2005. Limerick University, Ireland. Lecture.
• 2004: Poesiefestival, Berlin. Translation workshops and readings. British Council / Welsh Literature Abroad
• 2004: Israel and Palestine. Fact-finding visit. Israeli Foreign Ministry.
• 2004: Greenbelt Arts Festival, Cheltenham. Readings and workshops.
• 2004: NAASWCH Conference, Morgantown, WV, USA. Lectures.
• 2004. Subject of half-hour Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol programme
• 2003: Commission by Academi for Great Cardiff Poem
• 2003; Commission by HRH Prince of Wales for poem for Llangollen Eisteddfod.
• 2003: Edmonton, Canada. Lecture and readings at 'Culture and the State' conference. British Council.
• 2002: Sofia, Bulgaria. Readings and launch of Plamak Welsh edition. British Council.
• 2002: Lublin, Poland. Lecture. British Council.
• 2002: NAASWCH conference, Syracuse, NY. U.S.A. Two lectures.
• 2002: College of William and Mary, Williamsburg. U.S.A. Lecture.
• 2002: Commission by Wales Millennium Centre for poem for laying of foundation stone.
• 2002. Hay on Wye Festival of Literature, Readings.
• 2001: Argentina, British Council.
• 2001: European Round Table on Poetry, Riga, Latvia. Readings. British Council.
• 2000: Wexford, Ireland. Reading. Academi.
• 2000: Royal Festival Hall, London. Reading.

Musical collaborations:

• 2009: Words for 'O Beata Trinitas' for Karl Jenkins to mark university status of Trinity College, Carmarthen.
• 2009 Several poems set to music for album of Kevin Hutchings, Canada, On the Bridge You Were Burning..
• 2008: Commission to provide words and translations for a new setting of the Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins as part of the events for European City of Culture, Liverpool, 2008. Published on album Stabat Mater (EMI Classics).
• 2008: Lyrics for a number of songs for the album Adnodau gyda Blodau for the rock band Catsgam.
• 2007: Welsh words for a new setting of the Largo from the New World Symphony by Dvorak, and for a new setting of 'Cantilena', by Karl Jenkins on album This Land of Ours (EMI Classics).
• 2007: Panellist on day school on the libretto, for Academi and Music Theatre Wales.
• 2006: Welsh translation of 'The Mystics' performed by Dame Kiri te Kanawa on the Karl Jenkins album Kiri Sings Karl. (EMI Classics).
• 2006: Poems set to music by rock band Malarki on album Malarki.
• 2005: Karl Jenkins album, Requiem, (EMI Classics), including a setting of the poem 'Llwyd', reaches Number One in the classical charts.
• 2005: Commission from Opus and Barcud Derwen for opera libretto Taliesin for Karl Jenkins.

Visual and public art collaborations

• 2008 Commission for Welsh words for statue of Ivor Novello at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
• 2008 Poems are incorporated into sculptured benches as part of redevelopment of Merthyr Tydfil town centre.
• 2008: Collaboration with the visual artist Helen Stiff for Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru.
• 2006.Poem commissioned by the sculptor Nigel Talbot and included in his artwork as part of his exhibition Salvage..
• 2006: A portrait of Grahame Davies by Lorraine Bewsey is one of 20 pictures in her exhibition, Portreadau'r Beirdd / Poets' Portraits.
• 2004: Poems included on sculptures by Nigel Talbot at several locations on the Taff Trail, at Abercynon, Aberfan, Cefn Coed y Cymmer.

Membership of organisations

• 2008: Honorary research fellowship, Cardiff University.
• 2007 - National Library of Wales Advisory Board
• 2006 - Board of Displaced People in Action.
• 2006 - Society of Authors
• 2005 - Board of the Academi
• 2004: Fellowship of Goodenough College, London.
• 2003 - Management committee of Cyfrwng, the media journal in Wales
• 2002- Associate Lecturer, Creative Writing, Welsh Department, Cardiff University.
• 2002 - BAFTA Cymru
• 2002-2006 Standing Liturgical Advisory Committee of the Church in Wales
• 2001-2006 External Examiner, Media and Communication Course, MA and BA, University of Wales, Bangor
• 1997: Membership of the Welsh Academi.
• 1997-2002 Welsh-language Editor Poetry Wales magazine.

Judge

• 2010: Literature Medal at National Eisteddfod.
• 2007: John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, Cardiff round.
• 2007: Wrexham Festival Poetry Competition, Welsh and English.
• 2006: Literature Medal at National Eisteddfod.
• 2005: Bafta Cymru judging panel: Best Magazine/Feature Programme
• 2005: Wrexham Festival Poetry Competition, Welsh and English.
• 2004: Chair of Welsh-language judging panel for Book of the Year Award.
• 2003: John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry
• 2002: Eisteddfod Rhyng-Golegol, Free verse competitions.

Note: All Grahame Davies's travel and domestic and office energy use is carbon-balanced via the World Land Trust.