Menna Patricia Humphreys Gallie (18 March 1919 – 17 June 1990) was a Welsh

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and translator. She is best known for her novels in the English language, and as the translator of

Caradog Prichard Caradog Prichard (3 November 1904 – 25 February 1980) was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh. His daughter, Mari Prichard, was married to the late Humphrey Carpenter. Caradog Prichard was born and grew up in the Gwynedd slate-quarrying ...

's ''Un Nos Ola Leuad'', under the title ''Full Moon''.

Early life and education

Menna Patricia Humphreys was born in

Ystradgynlais Ystradgynlais (, ) is a town on the River Tawe in southwest Powys, Wales. It is the second-largest town in Powys and is in the historic county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes ...

, and attended

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

, where she met the philosopher W. B. Gallie. They were married in 1940, and had a son and a daughter. Both were politically active, with a commitment to

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self- ...

Career

Her first novel ''Strike for a Kingdom'' is "both an engrossing detective novel and a social panorama of a small Welsh village during the 1926 General Strike". It was reprinted by Honno, the Welsh Women's Press, in 2003, with an introduction by Angela John. It was dramatised by BBC Radio 4 in 2012. by Diana Griffiths. ''Man's Desiring'' (1960) was described by a reviewer as a novel with "warm and winning ways" a gentle comedy of contrasts about a Welsh man and an English woman at a Midlands university. ''The Small Mine'' (1962) tells the tale of a young collier's death in an industrial accident in the same fictional village created in ''Strike for a Kingdom''. It was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 2004 by Diana Griffiths. ''Travels with a Duchess'' (1968) is the journey of a menopausal wife from Cardiff who loses her luggage en route to Yugoslavia and abandons her usual ways in favour of adventure and 'debauchery'.

Novels

*''Strike for a Kingdom'' (1959) (reprinted 2003, 2011); shortlisted for

Gold Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

Award *''Man's Desiring'' (1960) *''The Small Mine'' (1962) (reprinted 2003, 2010) *''Travels with a Duchess'' (1968) (reprinted 1996, 2011) *''You're Welcome to Ulster!'' (1970) (reprinted 2010) *''In These Promiscuous Parts'' (1974)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallie, Menna 1919 births 1990 deaths 20th-century Welsh novelists 20th-century Welsh women writers People from Powys Alumni of Swansea University Anglo-Welsh novelists Welsh crime novelists Women mystery writers Proletarian literature Welsh socialists European democratic socialists