Gwyneth Denver Davies ,

FLSW The Learned Society of Wales ( Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...

(born 1959), known professionally as Gwyneth Lewis, is a Welsh poet, who was the inaugural National Poet of Wales in 2005. She wrote the text that appears over the

Wales Millennium Centre Wales Millennium Centre ( cy, Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 an ...

Biography

Gwyneth Lewis was born into a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

-speaking family in Cardiff. Her father started teaching her English when her mother went into hospital to give birth to her sister. Lewis attended

Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen Ysgol Garth Olwg (previously named Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen and Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg), English Garth Olwg School is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school in the village of Church Village near Pontypridd, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

, a bilingual school near Pontypridd, and then studied at Girton College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge, where she was a member of Cymdeithas Y Mabinogi. She was awarded a double first in English literature and the Laurie Hart Prize for outstanding intellectual work. Lewis then studied creative writing at

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, before receiving a D.Phil. in English from Balliol College, Oxford, for a thesis on 18th-century literary forgery featuring the work of Iolo Morganwg.CREW Welsh Writers Online: Gwyneth Lewis
Lewis was made a Harkness Fellow and worked as a freelance journalist in New York for three years. She then returned to Cardiff as a documentary producer and director at

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

. She left the BBC in 2001 after receiving a £75,000 grant from the

National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation based in the UK. The organisation acts through a combination of programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of part ...

to carry out research and sail to ports linked historically with the inhabitants of her native Cardiff. Lewis later wrote the words which appear over the

, which opened in November 2004. The same words form the title of Karl Jenkins's cantata ''

In These Stones Horizons Sing ''In These Stones, Horizons Sing'' is a work for chorus and orchestra composed by Karl Jenkins. It was commissioned for the opening of Wales Millennium Centre and first performed at its opening in November 2004. The work includes text in both Engl ...

'', which is partly set to lyrics by Gwyneth Lewis. In 2005 she was elected Honorary Fellow of

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. The same year she was made the first National Poet of Wales. Lewis was a judge for the 2011 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine. On 6 August 2012, Gwyneth Lewis won Y Goron (the Crown) at the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors ...

Llandow Llandow ( cy, Llandŵ) is a village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The community population taken at the 2011 census was 726. The village is located south west of Cardiff. The community includes the villages of Sigingstone and ...

for a collection of poems on the set title of ''Ynys'' (Island). In 2013, Lewis was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. Lewis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as par ...

for services to literature. She returned to Balliol College to serve as Artist in Residence in 2023 and again in 2024.

Music

Lewis entered the world of music in partnership with Richard Chew. ''Redflight/ Barcud'' was her first

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

, commissioned and presented by Welsh National Opera with pupils from Ysgol Capel y Cynfab, Cynghordy and Ysgol Cil-y-cwm. ''The Most Beautiful Man from the Sea'' is an oratorio for 600 voices, with music by Chew and

Orlando Gough Orlando Gough ( ; born 1953 in Brighton, Sussex) is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh ...

. It was given its world première at the

by the Chorus of Welsh National Opera and 500 amateur singers.

Personal life

Married to Leighton, a former boatswain with the Merchant Navy, Lewis has had a well documented battle in the past with clinical depression and alcoholism.Two in a Boat: The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage by Gwyneth Lewis
/ref> Her personal battles inspired her first book, ''Sunbathing in the Rain: A Cheerful Book on Depression'' and also a collection of poems, ''Keeping Mum – Voices from Therapy''. Having agreed to change their lifestyles for their own good, Lewis and her husband bought the small yacht ''Jameeleh'', taught themselves to sail, and set out to cross the Ocean to Africa. The journey inspired her 2005 book ''Two in a Boat – The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage''.

Bibliography

*''Llwybrau bywyd'' – Urdd Gobaith Cymru, 1977 *''Ar y groesffordd'' – Urdd Gobaith Cymru, 1978 *''Sonedau Redsa a Cherddi Eraill'' – Gomer, 1990 *''Parables and Faxes'' – Bloodaxe, 1995 *''Cyfrif Un Ac Un yn Dri'' – Barddas, 1996 *''Zero Gravity'' – Bloodaxe, 1998. Inspired by an astronaut cousin's voyage to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The BBC later based a documentary on the poetry. *''Y Llofrudd Iaith – Barddas'', 2000: won the Welsh Arts Council Book of the Year Prize. *''Sunbathing in the Rain: A Cheerful Book on Depression'' – Flamingo, 2002 *''Keeping Mum'' (republished in 2005 as ''Chaotic Angels'') – Bloodaxe, 2003 *''Two In A Boat: A Marital Voyage'' – Fourth Estate, 2005. Recounts a voyage with her husband on a small boat from Cardiff to North Africa, during which her husband was diagnosed with cancer. *''A Hospital Odyssey'' – Bloodaxe, 2010 *''The Meat Tree'' – Seren, 2010 *''Sparrow Tree'' – Bloodaxe, 2011 *''Y Storm'', 2012. Lewis's translation of Shakespeare's '' The Tempest'') *''The Book of Taliesin'' (translation and introductions with Rowan Williams; Penguin, 2019)

Prizes and awards

Current list of prizes and awards:Gwyneth Lewis
*1977 – Literary Medal at the Urdd Gobaith Cymru *1978 – Literary Medal at the Urdd Gobaith Cymru *1988 – Eric Gregory Award *1995 – Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize Parables and Faxes *1995 – Forward Poetry Prize (Best First Collection) (shortlist) Parables and Faxes *1998 – Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) Zero Gravity *2000 – Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award Y Llofrudd Iaith *2001 – National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) Award

References

External links

Gwyneth Lewis personal websiteBio at ContemporaryWriters.comGwyneth Lewis profile
at

Listen to Gwyneth Lewis reading her poetry
– a British Library recording, 12 July 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Gwyneth 1959 births Living people 20th-century British journalists 21st-century Welsh journalists 20th-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Writers from Cardiff Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Harvard University alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Welsh journalists Harkness Fellows Welsh women poets BBC newsreaders and journalists Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg British women television journalists British women radio presenters Welsh women journalists Welsh women radio presenters Members of the Order of the British Empire