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==Personal life== ==Personal life==
Humphreys married Elinor Myfanwy Jones in 1946. Together, they had four children. They traveled to Austria after he won the Somerset Maugham Award, which stipulated that the prize money was to be used for travel abroad.<ref name=BBC/>

Humphreys retired in 2009 aged 90 after his final book was published.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/books-in-wales/2009/04/18/emyr-humphreys-final-book-the-woman-at-the-window-91466-23402392/|publisher =Wales Online|date=18 April 2009|author=Steve Dube|title= Humphreys retired in 2009 aged 90 after his final book was published.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/books-in-wales/2009/04/18/emyr-humphreys-final-book-the-woman-at-the-window-91466-23402392/|publisher =Wales Online|date=18 April 2009|author=Steve Dube|title=
Emyr Humphreys' final book The Woman at the Window|accessdate=1 February 2010}}</ref> He reached his centenary on 15 April 2019.<ref name=Arts>{{Cite web|author=Tristan Hughes |url=https://www.walesartsreview.org/emyr-humphreys-at-100/ |title= Emyr Humphreys at 100 |publisher=Wales Arts Review |date=15 April 2019 |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author= |url=https://nation.cymru/culture/why-is-one-of-wales-greatest-cultural-heroes-being-ignored-on-his-100th-birthday/ |title= Why is one of Wales’ greatest cultural heroes being ignored on his 100th birthday?|work=Nation Cymru |date=15 April 2019 |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref> He died on 30 September 2020 at his home in ], ]; he was 101.<ref name=BBC/> Emyr Humphreys' final book The Woman at the Window|accessdate=1 February 2010}}</ref> He reached his centenary on 15 April 2019.<ref name=Arts>{{Cite web|author=Tristan Hughes |url=https://www.walesartsreview.org/emyr-humphreys-at-100/ |title= Emyr Humphreys at 100 |publisher=Wales Arts Review |date=15 April 2019 |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author= |url=https://nation.cymru/culture/why-is-one-of-wales-greatest-cultural-heroes-being-ignored-on-his-100th-birthday/ |title= Why is one of Wales’ greatest cultural heroes being ignored on his 100th birthday?|work=Nation Cymru |date=15 April 2019 |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref> He died on 30 September 2020 at his home in ], ]; he was 101.<ref name=BBC/>

Revision as of 14:52, 1 October 2020

Welsh novelist

Emyr Humphreys
Born(1919-04-15)15 April 1919
Prestatyn, Wales
Died30 September 2020(2020-09-30) (aged 101)
Llanfairpwll, Anglesey, Wales
LanguageWelsh, English
NationalityWelsh
Alma materUniversity of Wales, Aberystwyth

Emyr Humphreys (15 April 1919 – 30 September 2020) was a Welsh novelist, poet, and author. His career spanned from the 1940s until his retirement in 2009. He published in both English and Welsh. He also knew Italian after doing relief work there during the Second World War as a conscientious objector.

Early life and career

Humphreys was born on 15 April 1919 at Prestatyn in Denbighshire. He was educated at Rhyl High School, where he started composing poetry and wrote for The Welsh Nationalist by Plaid Cymru. He went on to study history and English at University of Wales, Aberystwyth, after winning a scholarship to study there. However, he did not graduate due to the start of the Second World War.

Humphreys registered as a conscientious objector in World War II, working on a farm. He subsequently undertook relief work in Egypt and Italy. After the war he worked as a teacher, as a radio producer at the BBC, and later became a lecturer in drama at Bangor University. Having become fluent in the Welsh language while at Aberystwyth, Humphreys went on to learn Italian while working in Italy after the war, and spent time there as well as studying the country's literature.

Writings

During his long bilingual writing career, he published over twenty novels, which include such classics as A Toy Epic (1958), Outside the House of Baal (1965), and The Land of the Living, an epic sequence of seven novels charting the political and cultural history of twentieth-century Wales: Flesh and Blood; The Best of Friends; Salt of the Earth; An Absolute Hero; Open Secrets; National Winner, Bonds of Attachment. He also wrote plays for stage and television, short stories, The Taliesin Tradition (a cultural history of Wales), and published his Collected Poems in 1999.

His papers, held to the National Library of Wales, include correspondence with writers, performers and other public figures, such as Dannie Abse, Philip Burton, Hywel Teifi Edwards, T. S. Eliot, Gwynfor Evans, Patrick Heron, Marghanita Laski, and R. S. Thomas.

Honours

Among many honours, he was awarded the Somerset Maugham Award in 1958 for Hear and Forgive. Humphreys won the Wales Book of the Year Award in 1992 and 1999. Humphreys was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Learned Society of Wales.

Personal life

Humphreys married Elinor Myfanwy Jones in 1946. Together, they had four children. They traveled to Austria after he won the Somerset Maugham Award, which stipulated that the prize money was to be used for travel abroad.

Humphreys retired in 2009 aged 90 after his final book was published. He reached his centenary on 15 April 2019. He died on 30 September 2020 at his home in Llanfairpwll, Anglesey; he was 101.

Bibliography

Main article: Emyr Humphreys bibliography

References

  1. https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/emyr-humphreys
  2. "Cofio'r llenor a'r 'cawr diwylliannol' Emyr Humphreys". BBC Cymru Fyw (in Welsh). Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Emyr Humphreys: 'Cultural giant' author dies at 101". BBC News. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  4. "Emyr Humphreys - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  5. Steve Dube (18 April 2009). "Emyr Humphreys' final book The Woman at the Window". Wales Online. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  6. ^ "Emyr Humphreys - Biography". British Council. Archived from the original on 12 October 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  7. M. Wynn Thomas (10 May 2019). "Humphreys at 100". The Bookseller. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  8. ^ Tristan Hughes (15 April 2019). "Emyr Humphreys at 100". Wales Arts Review. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  9. "Finding Aid - Emyr Humphreys Papers" (Document). National Library of Wales. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |access-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  10. "BBC - North West Wales Arts -Emyr Humphreys". BBC Wales. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  11. "Past Winners and Judges". Academi. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  12. "Learned Society of Wales - Emyr Humphreys". Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  13. Steve Dube (18 April 2009). "Emyr Humphreys' final book The Woman at the Window". Wales Online. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  14. "Why is one of Wales' greatest cultural heroes being ignored on his 100th birthday?". Nation Cymru. 15 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.

External links

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