Fury of Past Time

Gwyn Thomas was born, the last of twelve children, into a
Rhondda mining family in 1913. After a childhood marked
by the strikes of the 1920s, he went off to study Spanish at
Oxford University and in Madrid, where he met the poet
Federico Garcia Lorca and witnessed the turmoil which
would lead to the Spanish Civil War. On his return, amidst
the economic mire of the 1930s and his own burgeoning
teaching career in Barry in the 1940s, he picked up his pen
and began to write. For more than forty years, until his death
in 1981, as novelist, screenwriter, master of the short story,
and prizewinning playwright, Gwyn Thomas delivered
compelling and comedic portraits of his world of South
Wales. His creative genius earned enduring fame on both
sides of the Atlantic and on both sides of the European Cold
War divide. As a provocative and insightful broadcaster, he
embraced the possibilities of radio and television, whilst
leaving his hosts and guests alike in fits of knowing laughter.
This landmark biography, enriched with unrivalled access to
private papers and international archives, tells the remarkable
story of one of modern Wales's greatest literary voices.