Siân James (novelist)

Siân James (1930 – 21 July 2021)[1] was a Welsh novelist, academic and translator, who wrote in English. Her third novel, A Small Country, is seen as a classic of Anglo-Welsh literature. Her 1997 short-story collection was rated Wales Book of the Year.[1]

For other people named Sian James, see Sian James (disambiguation).

Birth and academic posts

James, born near Llandysul in Carmarthenshire, attended the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She was a Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and of the Welsh Academy. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glamorgan.

Writing career

Siân James twice won the Yorkshire Post Prize. Her third novel especially, A Small Country, has come to be regarded as a classic of Anglo-Welsh literature.[2][3] In 2006, A Small Country was adapted as a Welsh-language TV series, Calon Gaeth, which won the 2007 Bafta Cymru award for Best Drama/Drama Serial for Television.[4]

James translated Kate Roberts's novel Y Byw Sy'n Cysgu into English as The Awakening.[5] She also published a memoir, The Sky Over Wales, in 1997. In the same year, her short-story collection Not Singing Exactly won the Wales Book of the Year award.

Family

In 1958 Siân James married the Welsh Shakespearean actor Emrys James and set up a home with him in London and later Warwickshire.[6] They had four children, William, Owen, Jo and Anna.[7] Emrys James died in 1989.[1]

Works
  • One Afternoon (1975)
  • Yesterday (1978)
  • A Small Country (1979)
  • Another Beginning (1979)
  • Dragons and Roses (1983)
  • A Dangerous Time (1984)
  • Love and War (1994)
  • Storm at Arberth (1994)
  • Not Singing Exactly (collected short stories, 1996)
  • Two Loves (1997)
  • The Sky Over Wales (memoir, 1997)
  • Summer Storm (1998)
  • Second Chance (2000)
  • Outside Paradise (short stories, 2001)
  • Summer Shadows (2004)
  • Return to Hendre Ddu (2009)

References
  1. Tony Curtis (9 August 2021). "Siân James obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. Meic Stephens, A Book of Wales: an Anthology (J. M. Dent, 1987)
  3. Tony Curtis, Wales at War: Critical Essays on Literature and Art (Seren, 2007)
  4. Bafta Cymru
  5. "The Awakening". Seren. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  6. Parthian Books
  7. Jones, Catherine (30 November 2001). "A long life in words". Western Mail. Cardiff: Western Mail and Echo Ltd: 13.


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