Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This one was pretty hard – sometimes it’s not so easy to remember where different authors are from, and I have, no doubt, missed a few. Wales is also pretty small – we definitely have plenty of talent here, but it’s not as common to come across a ‘Welsh’ author as it is, say, American. I have included here a couple of authors who have books I haven’t yet read, and an author who may not live here anymore, but did grow up here, which I was surprised by so I kind of had to make sure they had a place on the list! It’s not quite ten writers, but if you have any recommendations for Welsh authors/writers living in Wales, please let me know.
Seven Authors From/Who Live in Wales
Jaimie Admans
Jaimie Admans popped straight in my head for this prompt, largely because I’ve been eyeing A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street as an upcoming read for a while, and also because while I was reading Christmas Ever After there was a tiny voice in my brain going I wonder if the author is Welsh…. The fact she describes herself as an ‘English-sounding Welsh girl’ is, for me, incredibly relateable.
Emily Garside
Emily – who is now a friend so yes I get to be on a first name basis with her – writes excellent non-fiction works, and I’ve almost got all of them at this point. My top recommendation though would be Gay Aliens and Queer Folk – it’s a brilliant examination of Russell T Davies’ career, and shines a light not just on his impact on queer TV, but on Welsh TV too. We have a pretty good TV landscape by this point, with so much shot here, and we have Davies to thank for a huge part of that. And we have Emily to thank for constant work looking a queerness in TV and theatre. Also, she’s just generally a pretty awesome human.
Miranda Aldhouse-Green
I haven’t yet read Enchanted Wales, but I attended an event to promote the book and based on that, I think what Aldhouse-Green has done with it – connecting archelogy with myths – is really fascinating, so I’m very much looking forward to digging into it!
Delyth Badder
Similarly, I’ve not yet read The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts, but Badder was promoting this alongside Enchanted Wales, and it’s very clear she knows her stuff! There’s some really interesting stories around ghosts (and death omens and other otherworld happenings) in Wales, and I’m keen to discover more in this.
Tim Lebbon
I’m more familiar with Lebbon through some of his short stories than his novels, but I do hope to change that at some point. He’s a good writer, and I have quite a few of his books on my Want to Read.
Philip Pullman
I am claiming Pullman under a technicality, because until I was looking at authors based here I didn’t realise he’d grown up in Wales. And I love His Dark Materials.
Kat Ellis
Harrow Lake and Burden Falls are both excellent YA Horror, and if you haven’t checked out Ellis’ work yet, I really do recommend doing so.
So, what do you think? And what about authors who are local to your area? Got any recommendations?
Unwrapping Words 