Professor David Gwyn Williams, usually known simply as Gwyn Williams was a Welsh poet, novelist, translator and academic. Born in Port Talbot, he was educated at the University College of Wales and Jesus College, Oxford. As an academic he taught at Cairo, Alexandria where he first became Professor of English Literature, Benghazi, and Istanbul. While in Egypt he befriended a number of expat writers including Lawrence Durrell. In Egypt he began to work on translations of Welsh poetry into English, pioneering works which were published during the 1950s. On his retirement in 1969 he returned to Wales and concentrated on writing, producing a series of novels, four travel books, and numerous other works. A fluent Welsh-speaker, he was a committed member of Plaid Cymru. His friend John Ormond, produced his well-regarded 1972 and 1974 series on Welsh history, The Land Remembers, for the BBC, which was accompanied by his book of the same title. His autobiography, ABC of G. W, was published in 1981, while his Collected Poems, 1936–86 were published in 1987. Williams died in 1990 in Aberystwyth. His diaries of family life in Mynydd Bach were published as Summer Journal 1951. As well as translations, poems, articles and reviews, Gwyn Williams published the following books: The Rent That’s Due to Love: an anthology of Welsh poetry. An Introduction toWelsh Poetry. In Defence of Woman by William Cynwal. Translated by Gwyn Williams, engravings by John Petts London: Golden Cockerel Press, undated c.1955). This Way To Lethe . Green Mountain: an informal guide to Cyrenaica and its Jebel Akhdar. Turkey: A Traveller’s Guide and History. Inns of Love . The Avocet . Eastern Turkey: a guide and history. Welsh Poems: sixth century to 1600. Foundation Stock . Twrci a’i Phobl. Two Sketches of Womanhood . Troelus a Chresyd. To Look for a Word: collected translations from Welsh poetry. The Land Remembers: a view of Wales. An Introduction to Welsh Literature. Choose Your Stranger . Y Ddefod Goll . Person and Persona: Studies in Shakespeare. ABC ofGW: a kind of autobiography. Y Cloc Tywod . Collected Poems 1936–1986. Flyting in Egypt: the story of a verse war 1943–45 told by Gwyn Williams. An Introduction to Welsh Literature . Summer Journal 1951 .
