The Writers of Wales Database

THOMAS, M. WYNN

Professor Thomas holds the Emyr Humphreys Chair of Welsh Writing in English at Swansea University, and is the former Director and founder of CREW. He is a specialist in American poetry and in the two literatures of modern Wales. He is also Chairman of the Welsh Books Council and has held visiting professorships at Harvard and at Tubingen, was Chairman of the Welsh Arts Council’s Literature Committee for five years, and has acted as Chairman of Academi, becoming a Fellow in 2000. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1996, and received the highest honour of the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2000. The twenty books of which he is author/ editor include the prize-winning Morgan Llwyd: Ei Gyfeillion, Ei Gyfoeswyr A’i Gyfnod (University of Wales Press, 1991).

Until recently Chair of the University of Wales Press, Professor Thomas is at present Chair of the Welsh Books Council Grants to Publishers Panel and is the executor of R. S. Thomas’ unpublished literary estate. In June 2007 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the two literatures of Wales. In the Shadow of the Pulpit: Welsh Writers and Welsh Nonconformity (University of Wales Press, 2010) was on the 2011 Wales Book of the Year Long List.

Reviews:
With respect to In the Shadow of the Pulpit: Welsh Writers and Welsh Nonconformity (University of Wales Press, 2010)

"…This is a crucially important analysis that should blaze a trail for succeeding generations to discover paths not only through the wilderness of their world but also their own selves. As I did as I read. Matters became clear which had been little more than a mist of intuition…"
Emyr Humphreys

"…In this new history of the Welsh dissenting culture and its impact on major Anglo-Welsh writers, M. Wynn Thomas eloquently and convincingly demonstrates how crucial its influence was…"
Lawrence Buell, Harvard University


Selected Publications:
The Lunar Light of Whitman’s Poetry (Harvard University Press, 1987)
Morgan Llwyd (Writers of Wales) (University of Wales Press, 1984)
Emyr Humphreys (Gwasg Pantycelyn, 1989)
Morgan Llwyd: Ei Gyfeillion, Ei Gyfoeswyr A’i Gyfnod (University of Wales Press, 1991)
Welsh Writing in English: A Yearbook of Critical Essays (co-writer) (New Welsh Review, 1995)
R. S. Thomas: War Poet (Ben Bowen Thomas lecture) (Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, 1996)
John Ormond (Writers of Wales) (University of Wales Press, 1997)
Corresponding Cultures: Studies in Relations between the two Literatures of Wales (University of Wales Press, 1999)
James Kitchener Davies (Writers of Wales) (University of Wales Press, 2002)
Transatlantic Connections: Whitman U.S., Whitman U.K. (University of Iowa Press, 2005)
Y Bardd Cocos Ar Gefn Ei Asyn: Cip Ar Kulturkampf Y Tridegau (University of Wales, Bangor, 2007)
In the Shadow of the Pulpit: Welsh Writers and Welsh Nonconformity (University of Wales Press, 2010)

Contibuted to:
R.S.Thomas: Y Cawr Awenydd (editor) (Gomer, 1990)
Wrenching Times: Poems from "Drum-Taps" by Walt Whitman (editor) (Gwasg Gregynog, 1991)
Internal Difference: Literature in Twentieth-century Wales (University of Wales Press - Histories of Wales) (editor) (University of Wales Press, 1992)
DiFfinio Dwy Lenyddiaeth Cymru (Y Meddwl Ar Dychymyg Cymreig) (editor) (University of Wales Press, 1995)
The Page’s Drift: R.S.Thomas at Eighty (editor) (Seren, 1995)
A Toy Epic by Emyr Humphreys (editor) (Seren, 1995)
Dail Glaswellt: Detholiad o Gerdd Walt Whitman (translator) (Academi, 1995)
Outside the House of Baal by Emyr Humphreys (editor) (Seren, 1996)
Gweld Ser: Cymry a Chanrif America (Y Meddwl A’r Dychymyg Cymreig) (editor) (University of Wales Press, 2001)
James Kitchener Davies: Detholiad O’i Waith (co-editor) (University of Wales Press, 2002)
Guide to Welsh Literature: Welsh Writing in English: Twentieth Century Welsh Writing in English Vol 7 (Guide to Welsh Literature) (editor) (University of Wales Press, 2003)
Welsh Writing in English: v.8: A Yearbook of Critical Essays: Vol 8 (University of Wales Press - Political Philosophy Now) (co-editor) (University of Wales Press, 2003)
Emyr Humphreys: Conversations and Reflections (co-writer) (University of Wales Press, 2004)
The Green Grounds and Other Ballads (co-writer) (Hafan Books, 2008)



In the Shadow of the Pulpit: Welsh Writers and Welsh Nonconformity (University of Wales Press, 2010)

Ranging from the nineteenth-century to the present, this book explores several central aspects of the ways in which the English-language poetry and fiction of Wales has responded to what was, for a crucial period of a century or so, the dominant culture of Wales: the culture of Welsh Nonconformity.

To purchase this title from gwales.com, please click on its front cover