Gwyn Williams (Q61753)

Professor David Gwyn Williams (1904-1990) was a poet, novelist and translator. He was born at Port Talbot, Glamorgan, and attended the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Jesus College, Oxford. He lectured at the Universities of Cairo, Alexandria, Benghazi, and Istanbul, 1935-1969, becoming Professor of English Language and Literature. He then lived in his grandfather's house in Trefenter, Cardiganshire, until 1983, when he moved to Aberystwyth. He was married with five children, and died in 1990. He wrote a variety of works, including translations of Welsh poetry into English, collected as To Look For a Word (Llandysul, 1976); novels including This Way to Lethe (London, 1962) and The Avocet (Swansea, 1970); poetry, Inns of Love (Swansea, 1970), Foundation Stock (Llandysul, 1974), Choose Your Stranger (Port Talbot, 1979) and Y Ddefod Goll (Port Talbot, 1980); an adaptation of Troelus a Chresyd (Llandysul, 1976); Person and Persona (Cardiff, 1978), a collection of Shakespearean studies; An Introduction to Welsh Literature (Cardiff, 1978); The Land Remembers (London, 1977), based on scripts for a BBC TV series; an autobiography, ABC of (D.) G. W. (Llandysul, 1981); and four travel books.