Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd (; 8 December 1906, London – 30 November 1983, Dublin), known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Richard Llewellyn ( , ), was a British novelist of a Welsh background, who is best remembered for his 1939 novel '' How Green Was My Valley'', which chronicles life in a

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

village in the South Wales Valleys.

Biography

Richard Herbert Vivian Lloyd (he later used the name "Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd") was born in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

in 1906, the second child and only son of William Llewellyn Lloyd, a hotel clerk and later the assistant secretary to a club, and Sarah Anne, ''née'' Thomas. Only after his death was it discovered that Llewellyn's claim that he was born in

St Davids St Davids or St David's (, , "David's house”) is a cathedral city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun and is part of the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's ...

West Wales West Wales () is a region of Wales. It has various definitions, either covering Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of ''Deheubarth'', and an alternative definition is to include Swa ...

, was false. In the U.S., Llewellyn won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

for favourite novel of 1940, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 16 February 1941, page BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007). He lived a peripatetic existence, travelling widely throughout his life. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he spent periods working in

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, wrote a play, worked as a coal miner and produced his best-known novel. During

he rose to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the Welsh Guards. His sister Gwladys (a Royal Red Cross commandant) and her two daughters were killed during the bombing of London, in June 1944. Following the war he worked as a journalist, covering the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

, and then as a

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

. During his lifetime, he lived in a variety of countries, including Italy, China, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya and Israel, in addition to Britain and Ireland. Llewellyn married twice: his first wife was Nona Theresa Catherine Sonsteby, whom he married in 1952 and divorced in 1968; his second wife was editor Susan Frances Heimann, whom he married in 1974. Richard Llewellyn died of a heart attack in St. Vincent's Hospital,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 30 November 1983.

Themes

Several of his novels dealt with a Welsh theme, the best-known being '' How Green Was My Valley'' (1939), which won international acclaim and was made into a classic

Hollywood film The cinema of the United States, primarily associated with major film studios collectively referred to as Hollywood, has significantly influenced the global film industry since the early 20th century. Classical Hollywood cinema, a filmmakin ...

. It immortalised the way of life of the South Wales Valleys

communities, where Llewellyn spent a small amount of time with his grandfather. Three sequels followed.

Bibliography

* '' Poison Pen: A Play in Three Acts'' (1938) * '' How Green Was My Valley'' (1939) * '' None but the Lonely Heart'' (1943) * '' A Few Flowers for Shiner'' (1950) * '' A Flame for Doubting Thomas'' (1954) * '' Sweet Witch'' (1955) * '' Mr. Hamish Gleave'' (1956) * '' The Flame of Hercules'' (1957) * '' Warden of the Smoke and Bells'' (1958) * '' Chez Pavan'' (1959) * '' Up, into the Singing Mountain'' (1960) * '' A Man in a Mirror'' (1964) * '' Sweet Morn of Judas' Day'' (1965) * '' Down Where the Moon is Small'' (1966) * '' Bride of Israel My Love'' (1973) * '' Hill of Many Dreams'' (1974) * '' Green, Green My Valley Now'' (1975) * '' At Sunrise, the Rough Music'' (1976) * '' Tell Me Now and Again'' (1977) * '' A Night of Bright Stars'' (1979) * '' I Stand on a Quiet Shore'' (1982) ;Edmund Trothe series * '' End of the Rug'' (1969) * '' But We Didn't Get the Fox'' (1970) * '' White Horse to Banbury Cross'' (1972) * '' The Night is a Child'' (1974)

Notes

External links

Richard Llewellyn Papers
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn, Richard 1906 births 1983 deaths Culture of Wales English people of Welsh descent People from Hendon British Army personnel of World War II Welsh Guards officers Anglo-Welsh novelists National Book Award winners 20th-century British novelists British male novelists 20th-century British male writers