Conran, Anthony

(1931- )

   Poet, translator and critic, he was born in India, where his father was a railway engineer. Brought back to Wales for health reasons, he was raised by grandparents in Colwyn Bay and graduated in English and philosophy from the University College of North Wales, Bangor. From 1957 to 1982 he was research fellow and tutor in the English Department at Bangor. His early work was as the translator of The Penguin Book of Welsh Verse, 1967, extended and reissued as Welsh Verse in 1986. In The Peacemakers (1997) he translated a selection of poems by Waldo Williams (see entry). He wrote an experimental drama, Branwen (performed 1989), and several critical essays on Anglo-Welsh poetry (see also Nigel Jenkins). Some of his poetry publications: Formal Poems, 1960. Poems 1951-67, 1974. Spirit Level, 1974. Life Fund, 1979. Eros Proposes a Toast, 1998. Theatre of Flowers, 1998. Blodeuwedd, 1988. All Hallows: Symphony in 3 Movements, 1995. Some of his poems: "Death of a Species," "Elegy for the Welsh Dead, in the Falkland Islands," "Fledgling," "The Spoils of Annwn," "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Hoover."

   Sources: A Brief History of Wales-Ch. 26-Continued Concern (http://www.peternwilliams.com/wales/wal26.html). Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. AngloWelsh Poetry, 1480-1990. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1993. CREW Welsh Writers Online (http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/crew/index.htm). Go Britannia, Wales: Welsh Literature-20th Century, Pt. III (http://www.britannia.com/wales/lit/lit18.html). Thirteen Ways of Looking at Tony Conran. Nigel Jenkins, ed. Welsh Union of Writers, 1995. Twentieth Century AngloWelsh Poetry. Dannie Abse, ed. Seren Books / Dufour Editions, 1997. World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time. Katharine Washburn and John S. Major, eds. 1338, 1998.