The Writers of Wales Database

THOMAS, IRENE E.

40 Victoria Avenue, Festival Park, Ebbw Vale NP23 8AY
Tel: (01495) 352909

Poet and artist. Irene was born in Ebbw Vale in 1930 and educated at the County School, and between 1947-1951 at Cardiff College of Art. She has been an art teacher and the Principal of her own dance school, and is now a professional freelance artist and spiritual healer. 

Irene won Wales’ Writers Prize at Cardiff Literature Festival in 1986 and 1988. She also won First Prize for her essay 'On My Life' from the Welsh Arts Council 1988. Irene has been broadcast many times on Woman’s Hour and BBC Wales. She has had five volumes of poetry published; and a poem and essay in Wales An Anthology (Collins) and Poetry Wales 25 years (Seren). Her poems also appear in former Anglo–Welsh Review and Poetry Wales, and various magazines have also printed her articles. She won the Oriel Book Award in 1990 and was Poet–in-residence at Rhymney Comprehensive in 1990. Irene has also published some of her children's poems with Pont Books. She is a Member of Academi.

Selected Publications:
Remembering in Ebbw Vale (vol. 4;)
Memories in Ebbw Vale (Kerin, 1985)
Between the Mountains: Poems of the Ebbw Valley (Kerin, 1986)
Faces and Places in Ebbw Vale (co-writer) (Kerin, 1987)
Cries (Old Bakehouse Publications, 1994)
A Childhood in Ebbw Vale (Old Bakehouse Publications, 2010)

Contributed to:
Wales An Anthology (contributor) (Collins, 1989) 
On My Life, Parachutes and Petticoats (contributor) (Honno, 1992)
Poetry Wales 25 years (contributor) (Seren, 1995)

Eligible Writers on Tour subjects offered:

1. Readings from poems and essay on Welsh Life and Humour, particularly in the valleys -1930s
2. Performances for groups and other audiences

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: PA for large audiences.