Wales Book of the Year Winners 2025

Girls etc, Rhian Elizabeth (Broken Sleep Books)

The language in Rhian Elizabeth’s poetry feels instinctual: the poems in Girls etc pulse and ripple with energy, their rhythms are perfectly pitched. Elizabeth writes of personal experience with an intensity and sharpness that challenges you to look closely. Girls etc showcases a defiance, alongside the beauty and vulnerability here, which resonates long after the last page is turned. Rhian Elizabeth brings a breath of fresh air to contemporary poetry.

***

Rhian Elizabeth was born in 1988 in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. She is a Hay Festival Writer at Work and Writer in Residence at the Coracle International Literary Festival in Tranås, Sweden. She is currently at night school studying to be a counsellor.

Nightshade Mother, Gwyneth Lewis (Calon Books)

In this extraordinary memoir, Gwyneth Lewis, the inaugural National Poet of Wales, recounts her toxic upbringing at the hands of her controlling, coercive mother. It is a book that Gwyneth has been preparing to write all her life, in diaries that she’s kept since childhood. In these journals, she interrogates the emotionally abusive mother/daughter relationship, in great pain but determined to find a way through. The result is a book that Gwyneth co-writes with her younger self, an unexpected and life-saving dialogue through time. Metaphors of haunting intensity help her confront what happened to her; quotations from art and literature help to guide and steady her. Nightshade Mother is a book about the power of art, language and, ultimately, about homecoming after a lifetime of exile from herself. It is a profoundly moving and beautiful work; questing, forgiving and loving in its approach.

***

All Gwyneth Lewis ever wanted to be was a writer. Brought up Welsh-speaking in Cardiff, she studied English and spent time in America. She was Wales’s first National Poet and composed the six-foot-high words on the front of the Wales Millennium Centre. Her other non-fiction books are Sunbathing in the Rain: A Cheerful Book on Depression and Two in a Boat: A Marital Voyage. She has published nine books of poetry, the latest being Sparrow Tree.

A History of My Weird, Chloë Heuch (Firefly Press)

Starting high school was never going to be easy for Mo, but a fall out with her so-called ʻfriendsʼ leaves her lonelier than ever. Then she finds Onyx. Exploring an abandoned Victorian asylum may seem a weird way to develop a friendship, but then Mo has always found she does things a bit differently. Together they help each other accept their own differences even when others struggle to do the same. Determined to keep the pair apart, Onyxʼs dad actions force them back to the secrecy of Denham asylum. On Halloween night, with the old building due for demolition, the two friends enter for the last time…

***

Chloë Heuch was born in Taunton and lives near Pwllheli on the North Wales coast with her partner, two children, her psychopath cat and the dog. She has a Creative Writing MA from Lancaster University and is a member of SCBWI. Her novel Too Dark to See was published by Firefly in 2020. She currently divides her time between her children, her writing and teaching teenagers.

Girls etc, Rhian Elizabeth (Broken Sleep Books)

V + Fo, Gwenno Gwilym (Gwasg y Bwthyn)

A unique romance story that deals with the complications that develop as a young couple separates and tries to raise children. This is fiction that breaks new ground offering a realistic picture of family life in a home full of linguistic wonders. A novel by a new author that offers an unfiltered insight into contemporary Wales! Not suitable for children.

***

Gwenno Gwilym originally comes from the Conwy Valley but she now lives in the Ogwen Valley. Gwenno enjoys writing in Welsh and English, and often in a combination of both languages. She recently gained an MA in Creative Writing from Bangor University. Her poetry has been published in Poetry Wales, Stamp Publications and Culture Matters. V + Fo is her first novel.

Rhuo ei distawrwydd hi, Meleri Davies (Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp)

Three generations of women from the same family is the backbone of Rhuo ei distawrwydd hi, the début Poetry collection by Meleri Davies. The grief and joy of being a woman, a daughter and a mother runs through the poems, which are sometimes subtly restrained and other times explosive.

***

Meleri Davies comes from Cwm Prysor but now lives in Llanllechid with her husband and three children. She is a freelance community development consultant who is passionate about communities and sustainability.

Arwana Swtan a’r Sgodyn Od, Angie Roberts a Dyfan Roberts (Gwasg y Bwthyn)

This is a short and extremely funny novel by an author who knows how to interest and please children. Things are very dull in Caernarfon when Arwana Swtan arrives there in the middle of a big storm to stay with her grandfather, Taidi. But thanks to an extraordinary mermaid, Swigi Dwgong, the town and its people are turned on their heads. A quick, clever and humorous story.

***

Angie Roberts started writing children’s novels when she was six years old. As well as being a writer, Dyfan Roberts is also a well-known actor. Arwana Swtan a’r Sgodyn Od was illustrated by their daughter, Efa Dyfan.

V + Fo, Gwenno Gwilym (Gwasg y Bwthyn)