Gwyneth Lewis
- English
- French
- Spanish
Education
D Phil in English Literature, Balliol College, Oxford
Harkness Fellow at Graduate Writing School, Columbia University, New York City
Harkness Fellow at Department of English, Harvard University
Double First Class Honours in English, Girton College, Cambridge
Rhydfelen Comprehensive School, Pontypridd (12 ‘O’-Levels, 11 A, 1B, and 3 ‘A’-Levels: English A, French A, History A)
Gwyneth Lewis was appointed Wales’s first National Poet in 2005 and was honored with the task of composing the six-foot-high words displayed on the front of Cardiff’s new Wales Millennium Centre, which is now a national icon. Gwyneth has published 10 books of poetry in Welsh and English, including Sparrow Tree, Parables & Faxes, Keeping Mum, Zero Gravity, Tair mewn Un(“Three in One”), and Y Llofrudd Iaith (“The Language Murderer”). Zero Gravity, inspired by her astronaut cousin, was made into a documentary by the BBC. Her nonfiction books include Sunbathing in the Rain: A Cheerful Book on Depression and Two in a Boat: A Marital Voyage. She has written libretti for two chamber operas for children, an oratorio, and several radio plays, including Stardust: A Love Story, which explains the basic principles of particle physics. Gwyneth has studied at prestigious institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Columbia, and she has received numerous fellowships and awards for her work.
Partial list of publications: Parables & Faxes, Zero Gravity, Keeping Mum, Chaotic Angels, A Hospital Odyssey, Sparrow Tree, and the three Welsh collections in Tair mewn Un (“Three in One”); non-fiction Sunbathing in the Rain, Two in a Boat; novella The Meat Tree
Genres: Poetry, nonfiction, radio plays, opera libretti, and stage plays
Awards: Recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, and the first National Poet of Wales
Languages: Welsh (fluent), English (fluent) French (fluent), German (conversational), Spanish (conversational)
Current residence: UK