Humphreys, Emyr

(1919- )

   Welsh novelist, short-story writer, poet and dramatist from Flintshire, he read history at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. A conscientious objector in World War II, he was sent to work on the land in Pembrokeshire, then from 1944 to 1946, he served with Save the Children Fund under the aegis of the United Nations Organization in the Middle East and Italy. After teaching, from 1955 to 1965, he worked for BBC Wales as a drama producer, then lecturer in drama at the University College of North Wales, Bangor, until 1972, when he became a full-time writer. Five of his poems about Anglesey have been set to music by Alun Hoddinott and have formed part of a recital program sung by Stuart Burrows, the operatic tenor, in Vienna, Tokyo and New York. North Wales University made him honorary professor of English in 1988 and the University of Wales made him honorary doctor of letters in 1990. His four poetry collections: Ancestor Worship, 1970. Landscapes, 1976. The Kingdom of Brân, 1979. Pwyll a Riannon, 1980. Some of his poems: "An Apple Tree and a Pig," "From Father to Son," "Nant y Benglog."

   Sources: Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1990, Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press (1993). CREW Welsh Writers Online (http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/crew/welshwriters/gclarke.htm). The Collected Poems of Emyr Humphreys. University of Wales Press, 1999. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English. Gwyn Jones, ed. Oxford University Press, 1977. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry. Dannie Abse, ed. Seren Books / Dufour Editions, 1997. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005.