Irma Chilton


Irma Chilton, also known as I. M. Chilton, was a Welsh children's writer in the English and Welsh languages. She was a recipient of the Tir na n-Og Award presented by the Welsh Books Council, and of eisteddfod prizes.

Early life and education

Irma Evans was born in Loughor, in Glamorgan, close to the border with Carmarthen. Her parents were Iorworth Evans, a furnaceman, and his wife Esther Jane Muxworthy Evans. She attended the University of Wales, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1951.

Writing

Chilton was a teacher. Chilton's first book, Take Away The Flowers & Fuller's World, combined two science fiction stories about a pilot character named Tom Davies; Heinemann published the volume in 1967. She wrote children's books in both English and Welsh and won eisteddfod prizes for them. They include the novels String of Time, Goldie, The Time Button, Strangers Up the Lane, Rhwng cwsg ac effro, The Magic Cauldron and Other Folktales, A Spray of Leaves, The Witch, The Prize, Y Wobr, and Y Peiriant Amser. In 1989, she took the Crown for prose at the National Eisteddfod in Llanrwst, for.

Personal life and legacy

Irma Evans married chemist Harry Chilton; they had two children, Dafydd and Rhiannon. She died in 1990, aged 59 years. Chilton is commemorated in the name of the Irma Chilton Bursary, an annual memorial prize given to aspiring children's novelists by the Welsh Arts Council. Winners of it have included Jennifer Sullivan.
Her son Dafydd Chilton also wrote fiction for young readers.