The Writers of Wales Database

WOODWARD, ANTONY

Website: http://www.thegardenintheclouds.com/index.phtml

Antony lives near Crickhowell in the Black Mountains. He was born in 1963 and became an award-winning advertising copywriter. He went on to write columns for Country Life and Tatler before writing his first book, the best-seller Propellerhead (HarperCollins, 2001), which documented his attempts at learning to fly.

Wanting to leave London, Antony bought a derelict small-holding in the Black Mountains. He renovated the house and created a garden so special that it was selected for the prestigious Yellow Book - the National Gardens Scheme guide to gardens open to the public for charity. This forms the subject of his second book The Garden in the Clouds: From Derelict Smallholding to Mountain Paradise (HarperPress, 2010). A pilot documentary of the book has been made. Antony is a Member of The Welsh Academy.

Antony writes for the Telegraph, Times and Observer.

Reviews:
With respect to Propellerhead (HarperCollins, 2001)

"…What Nick Hornby did for football, Antony Woodward has done for flying…Wonderful..."
Observer


With respect to Garden in the Clouds: From Derelict Smallholding to Mountain Paradise (HarperPress, 2010)

"...A side-splitting brilliance that only a truly gifted writer can achieve. Not one dull page...up there with Proust as a shimmering example of classic remembrance of things past..."
Val Hennessy, Daily Mail

"...Very few people are brave enough to live a realisable dream and then write about it in such a way that readers feel deep laughter and admiration. Antony Woodward...has done just that..."
Country Life

Selected Publications:
Propellerhead (HarperCollins, 2001)
Garden in the Clouds: From Derelict Smallholding to Mountain Paradise (HarperPress, 2010)

Contributed to:
The Wrong Kind of Snow (co-writer) (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007)