Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd (; 8 December 1906 – 30 November 1983), known by his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Richard Llewellyn ( , ), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born novelist of

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 ...

descent, who is best remembered for his 1939 novel ''

How Green Was My Valley ''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own persona ...

'', which chronicles life in a

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

village in the South Wales Valleys.

Biography

Richard Herbert Vivian Lloyd (he later used the name "Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd") was born in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in 1906, the second child and only son of Welsh parents William Llewellyn Lloyd, a hotel clerk and later the assistant secretary to a club, and Sarah Anne, ''née'' Thomas. Only after his death was it discovered that Llewellyn's claim that he was born in

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

West Wales West Wales ( cy, Gorllewin Cymru) is not clearly defined as a particular region of Wales. Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of ''Deheuba ...

, was false. In the U.S., Llewellyn won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

for favourite novel of 1940, voted by members of the

American Booksellers Association The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and t ...

. "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 16 February 1941, page BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007). He lived a

peripatetic Peripatetic may refer to: *Peripatetic school, a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece *Peripatetic axiom * Peripatetic minority, a mobile population moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade. *Peripatetic Jats There are several ...

existence, travelling widely throughout his life. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he spent periods working in

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s, wrote a play, worked as a coal miner and produced his best-known novel. During

he rose to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V ...

. His sister Gwladys (a

Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. Foundation The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Victoria of the Un ...

commandant) and her two daughters were killed during the bombing of London, in June 1944. Following the war he worked as a journalist, covering the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

, and then as a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. During his lifetime, he lived in a variety of countries, including Italy, China, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya and Israel, in addition to Britain and Ireland. Llewellyn married twice: his first wife was Nona Theresa Catherine Sonsteby, whom he married in 1952 and divorced in 1968; his second wife was editor Susan Frances Heimann, whom he married in 1974. Richard Llewellyn died of a heart attack in St. Vincent's Hospital,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 30 November 1983.

Themes

Several of his novels dealt with a Welsh theme, the best-known being ''

'' (1939), which won international acclaim and was made into a classic

Hollywood film The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...

. It immortalised the way of life of the South Wales Valleys

communities, where Llewellyn spent a small amount of time with his grandfather. Three sequels followed.

Bibliography

* '' Poison Pen: A Play in Three Acts'' (1938) * ''

'' (1939) * '' None but the Lonely Heart'' (1943) * '' A Few Flowers for Shiner'' (1950) * '' A Flame for Doubting Thomas'' (1954) * '' Sweet Witch'' (1955) * '' Mr. Hamish Gleave'' (1956) * '' The Flame of Hercules'' (1957) * '' Warden of the Smoke and Bells'' (1958) * '' Chez Pavan'' (1959) * '' Up, into the Singing Mountain'' (1960) * '' A Man in a Mirror'' (1964) * '' Sweet Morn of Judas' Day'' (1965) * '' Down Where the Moon is Small'' (1966) * '' Bride of Israel My Love'' (1973) * '' Hill of Many Dreams'' (1974) * '' Green, Green My Valley Now'' (1975) * '' At Sunrise, the Rough Music'' (1976) * '' Tell Me Now and Again'' (1977) * '' A Night of Bright Stars'' (1979) * '' I Stand on a Quiet Shore'' (1982) ;Edmund Trothe series * '' End of the Rug'' (1969) * '' But We Didn't Get the Fox'' (1970) * '' White Horse to Banbury Cross'' (1972) * '' The Night is a Child'' (1974)

Notes

External links

Richard Llewellyn Papers
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn, Richard 1906 births 1983 deaths Welsh culture English people of Welsh descent People from Hendon British Army personnel of World War II Welsh Guards officers Anglo-Welsh novelists National Book Award winners 20th-century British novelists British male novelists 20th-century British male writers