William Glynne-Jones
≠
| William Glynne-Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born |
19 December 1907 Llanelli, Wales |
| Died |
26 January 1977 (aged 69) London |
| Occupation | Welsh novelist, short story writer, broadcaster and journalist. |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Spouse | Doris Jones (née Passmore) |
| Children | Edgar Dennis Jones |
William Glynne-Jones (1907–1977) was an Anglo-Welsh novelist, short story writer, broadcaster and journalist.
Early life and career
He was born and brought up in Llanelli and went to Llanelli Boys' County School. His love of literature and his childhood desire to be a writer was fed by the books read in Llanelli library.
Glynne-Jones worked between the ages of 16 and 36 as a steel-foundry moulder at Glanmor Foundry. He would then type his writings in the evening. He was a fluent Welsh speaker, but suffered from a cleft palate and hare lip. He was released from the foundry on medical grounds in 1943. While his wife and son remained initially in Wales, he went to London to pursue an ambition to earn his living as a freelance writer and novelist.
His stories for children and adults were broadcast weekly on Children's Hour and regularly on the mid-morning story hour by the BBC. His full name of William Glynne-Jones was necessary to distinguish him from other similarly-named Anglo- Welsh writers of the time.
Writings
Glynne-Jones wrote with fidelity and feeling about many aspects of life in industrial South Wales in the 1920s, notably the steel foundries and the Llanelli area in particular, to those who lived there as well as to outsiders.
His circle of literary friends, acquaintances, and correspondents included: Glyn Jones, Doris Lessing, W. Somerset Maugham, George Ewart Evans, Gareth Hughes (a first cousin), Gwyn Jones, Gwyn Thomas, Dylan Thomas, Brian Forbes, Emyr Humphreys, Clifford Evans, Emlyn Williams and Richard Burton.
Bibliography
Glynne-Jones's published work includes four major novels, 12 books for children, Welsh short story collections, and school readers (short stories) for children. A full list of his published work appears here, but more remains in manuscript.
- Farewell Innocence (Werner Laurie, 1950)
- Farewell Innocence (reprint, Pan Books, 1973)
- Ride the White Stallion (Werner Laurie, 1951)
- Summer Long Ago (Peter Nevill, 1954)
- The Childhood Land (B. T. Batsford, 1960)
Short stories
- Welsh Stories. He Who had Eaten of the Eagle (William Maclellan, 1948)
Children's books
- Grandpa Blanchard's Partisans (Alliance Press 1944)
- Brecon Adventure (Lutterworth Press 1946)
- Brecon Adventure (reprint, Lutterworth Press 1951)
- The Runaway Train (Lutterworth Press, 1945)
- The Mouse and the Cuckoo in the Clock (Charles Skilton 1947)
- Dennis & Co (Frederick Warne, 1947)
- The Trail of Frozen Gold (George G. Harrap, 1949)
- The Magic Forefinger (T. V. Boardman, 1949)
- Pennants on the Main (Frederick Warne, 1950)
- Legends of the Welsh Hills (A. R. Mowbray, 1957)
- Old Time Tales (A. R. Mowbray, 1959)
- Holiday Adventure (Spring Books, 1959)
- The Fox's Cunning (A. R. Mowbray, 1962)
School readers
- The Golden Boy (Blackie & Son, 1951 – Kingfisher Books Third Series)
- If Pigs Had Wings (Blackie & Son 1954 – Kingfisher Books Third Series)
- The Buccaneers (Thomas Nelson – Nelson's Speedwell Readers)
- Yukon Gold (Tomas Nelson – Nelson's Speedwell Readers)
Magazine contributions
- Strand Magazine
- Lilliput
- Chambers's Journal
- Welsh Review
- Welsh Short Stories (1959)
- Welsh Life
- Pick of Today's Short Stories
- Wales
- New Short Stories 1945–46
- Dock Leaves
- The Fortnightly
- West Country
- Modern Reading
- Our Time
- Courier
- Adam
- Argosy (United States)
- Esquire (United States),
- New Masses (United States),
- Tomorrow (United States),
- Outspan (South Africa),
- Milady (South Africa),
- Spotlight (South Africa),
- British Ally (Moscow),
- Arabic Listener
- Evening News
- The People
- Evening Standard
- The Western Mail
- Anvil
- She
- Cork Weekly Examiner
- Birmingham Post,
- Weekend,
- Celtic Story,
- Grey Walls Stories,
- Forum
- Trident
- Mayfair
- Curious
- Queen
- Saturday Saga
- Million
- Christian Science Monitor
- The Holiday Book
- BBC
- South African Broadcasting Co.
- New Zealand Broadcasting Service
- Australia Broadcasting Co.
Appreciation
William Glynne-Jones was awarded a £300 Rockefeller Foundation Atlantic Award for literature in 1946.[1] He received medals from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1970, 1976 and 1979 for contributions to children's literature. He is also represented in the De Grummond Children's Literature Collection.[2]
His name appears on the January 1982 National Geographic map of Novelists of the British Isles. He also features in the Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales and Author and Writers Who's Who.
External sources
- A short biography by his son and daughter in law, Edgar Dennis and Lucy Doreen Jones, published by Llanelli Borough Council, 1995 ISBN 0 906821 30 4
- National Library of Wales contributions[3]
Authority control  |
|---|
- Llanelli Miscellany 2014 and 2015