The Writers of Wales Database

COLES, GLADYS MARY

Ty Coch, Galltegfa, Llanfwrog, Ruthin, Denbighshire LL15 2AR
Tel / Fax: 01516 259128
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Poet, novelist, biographer, publisher, editor and tutor of creative writing, Gladys was educated in Wales and at the universities of Liverpool and London. Her published work includes nine collections of poetry, six anthologies and two biographies of Mary Webb. She has received many prizes and awards, and was selected to  represent Britain in the Euro-Literature Project.

Gladys’ poetry has been anthologised by Faber, Cassell, Virago, the Forward Prizes, Seren, Collins, as well as being broadcast on BBC TV, BBC Radio 4, BBC Wales. Other broadcasts include a ’Kaleidoscope’ special feature. She was editor of the Bulletin of The Welsh Academy, 1995–98.

Gladys has a PhD in Creative Writing and is a Lecturer in Imaginative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University and also at the University of Liverpool. She is President of the Mary Webb Society and runs the literary press, Headlands Publications. Gladys has tutored courses for the Arvon Foundation and at Tŷ Newydd, and is a frequent adjudicator of poetry competitions (most recently at the Cardiff International, Llandudno and Conwy Festivals). Clay (Flambard Press, 2010) is her first novel and was on the 2011 Wales Book of the Year Long List.

Reviews:
With respect to Clay (Flambard, 2010)

"…Coles is an expert time-traveller; she writes with startling authenticity…"
Helena Nelson, Ambit


Selected Publications:
Sounding Circle (Rondo Publications, 1975)
S, nerver: and Other Poems (Headland, 1977)
The Flower of Light: A Biography of Mary Webb (Duckworth, 1978)
Snowbird Sequence (Headland, 1984)
Liverpool Folio (Duckworth, 1984)
Studies in Stone: Poems (Windows Project, 1985)
Leafburners: New and Selected Poems (Duckworth, 1987)
Mary Webb (Border Lines Series) (Seren, 1990)
The Glass Island: Poems (Duckworth, 1992)
Both Sides of the River: Merseyside in Poetry and Prose (Headland, 1993)
Mary Webb and her Shropshire World: A Guide to the Mary Webb Country (Headland, 1994)
The Poet’s View: Poems for Paintings in the Walker Art Gallery (Headland, 1996)
Both Sides of the River Hb (Headland, 1997)
Secret Shropshire: A Video (Shropshire Books, 1998)
The Land Within: Poems (Gwasg Gee, 1999)
The Echoing Green (Flambard, 2001)
Song of the Butcher Bird (Flambard, 2006)
Clay (Flambard, 2010)

Contributed to:
Collected Prose and Poems (editor) (Wilding, 1977)
Selected Poems (editor) (Headland, 1981)
Walks with Writers (Exploring Shropshire Series) (with Gordan Dickins) (Shropshire Books, 1992)
Chester: A Collection of Stories – Stories from the Chester Literature Festival Short Story Competition (editor) (Chester City Council, 1997)
Wirral: An Anthology (Poets England Series) (editor) (Headland, 2002)
Poetry Pool: Poems from Liverpool John Moores University: volume 2. (co-editor) (Headland, 2005)
Between Fields and Stars: New & Selected Poetry and Prose by Edmund Cusick (editor) (Oyster Press, 2008)
Poetry Pool: Poems from Liverpool John Moores University (co-editor) (Headland, 2008)
Mary Webb, Neglected Genius (contributor) (Grolier Club of New York, 2010) 
The Piazza Poets (editor) (Headland, 2011)

Clay (Flambard, 2010)

In 1916, William Manderson, a young poet and infantryman, leaves Liverpool for the Western Front where his older brother is already serving. During the build-up to the great offensive on the Somme, William keeps a journal, sends intimate letters to Jack's wife Elizabeth and writes poetry reflecting his experiences. He longs for news of close friend and fellow soldier, Matthew Riley, a composer and pianist.

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