Norris, Leslie

(1921-2006)

   One of the most important Welsh writers of the post-war period, he was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, and became a teacher and college lecturer in England and in Wales. Since 1974 he was a full-time writer of short stories, essays, reviews, translations, and poetry for children as well as adults. He was resident lecturer at academic institutions in the United Kingdom and in the USA, and did not live permanently in Wales since 1948. Since 1983 he was associated with Brigham Young University in Utah, where he was humanities professor of creative writing. He was awarded important literary prizes and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctor of literature from the University of Glamorgan. Between his first collection, Tongue of Beauty (1941), and Collected Poems (1996), he published fourteen collections, including two for children: Merlin and the Snake's Egg (1978) and Norris's Ark (1988). Some of his poems: "Barn Owl," "Belonging," "Boy Flying," "Mice in the Hay," "The Ballad of Billy Rose," "The Thin Prison," "Tiger in the Zoo."

   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: Leslie Norris (http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/crew/index.htm). I Like You, If You Like Me: Poems of Friendship. Myra Cohn Livingston, ed. Macmillan, 1987. Obituary, of Leslie Norris, Wales, U.K., 11 April 2006 (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/). Poems of Christmas. Myra Cohn Livingston, ed. Atheneum, 1980. 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 Kingfisher Book of Children's Poetry. Michael Rosen, ed. Kingfisher Books, 1985. This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World. Naomi Shihab Nye, ed. Four Winds Press, 1992. Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry. Dannie Abse, ed. Seren Books / Dufour Editions, 1997.