The Writers of Wales Database

ADAMS, SAM

Born at Gilfach Goch, Glamorgan, and educated at Tonyrefail Grammar School and the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. After teaching at a Bristol comprehensive school, he became a senior lecturer in English at Caerleon College of Education until his appointment to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools in 1974. He joined the editorial board of Poetry Wales in 1970 and was its editor from 1973 to 1975. He is a former chairman of the English Language Section of Yr Academi Gymreig. Sam was also editor of The Triskel Poets Series (Christopher Davies) 1971; 1972; 1973; 1974 (twelve collections by individual poets, including the first by Gillian Clarke, Jeremy Hooker, John Powell Ward and John Davies).

Sam contributed to the Companion to the Literature of Wales and the new Oxford DNB and has published poems, articles and reviews in Poetry Wales, Anglo–Welsh Review, Planet, New Welsh Review, Cambria, PN Review, Aquarius, Transatlantic Review, Brycheiniog and Cimarron Review (USA). His ’Letter from Wales’ has appeared regularly in PN Review (Carcanet Press) since 1995. He edited the Collected Poems and Collected Stories of Roland Mathias, is the author of three monographs in the ‘Writers of Wales’ series and published his third collection of poems, Missed Chances in 2007. Sam has recently published his first novel, entitled Prichard’s Nose (Y Lolfa, 2010). He is a Fellow of Academi.

Reviews:
With respect to Prichard’s Nose (Y Lolfa, 2010)

"…a remarkably vivid reconstruction of rural Wales and London's theatreland in the 1800s - and the perplexing puzzle of a lost nose…"
Meic Stephens

"…This is a masterly tale about a real, nineteenth-century teller of tall tales. Sam Adams' nose for the Welsh past is combined with his poet's eye to bring the story alive to all our senses..."
M. Wynne Thomas

"...A beautifully written novel of mystery and literary detective work that takes us from rural Wales to the teeming London of the 1820s..."
Robert Minhinnick
 

Selected Publications:
The Boy Inside (Christopher Davies, 1973)
Ten Anglo-Welsh Poets (Carcanet Press, 1974)
Geraint Goodwin (Writers of Wales Series) (University of Wales Press, 1975)
Journeying (Gomer, 1994)
Roland Mathias (Writers of Wales Series) (University of Wales Press, 1995)
Thomas Jeffery Llewelyn Prichard (Writers of Wales Series) (University of Wales Press, 2000) 
Missed Chances (Y Lolfa, 2006)
Prichard’s Nose (Y Lolfa, 2010)

Contributed to:
The Shining Pyramid and Other Stories by Welsh Authors (co–editor) (Gomer, 1970)
Triskel One – Essays on Welsh & Anglo-Welsh Literature (co-editor) (Christopher Davies, 1971)
Triskel Two – Essays on Welsh & Anglo-Welsh Literature (co-editor) (Christopher Davies, 1973)
Dragon’s Hoard – an anthology of Modern Welsh Poetry for Schools (co-editor) (Gomer, 1976)
The Collected Short Stories of Geraint Goodwin (co-editor) (H.G. Walters, 1976)
Comparative Criticism (contributor) (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
Seeing Wales Whole – Essays on the Literature of Wales in Honour of Meic Stephens (editor) (University of Wales Press, 1998)
The Collected Short Stories of Roland Mathias (editor) (University of Wales Press, 2001)
The Collected Poems of Roland Mathias (editor) (University of Wales Press, 2002)  
Welsh Writing in English – A Yearbook of Critical Essays (contributor) (University of Wales Press, 2004)
Kaleidoscope - An Anthology of Poetry Sequences (contributor) (Cinnamon, 2011)