Gillian Clarke was born in 1937 in Cardiff, Wales, and now lives with her family on a smallholding in Ceredigion. She has three children.
She has written books for children, including “The Animal Wall: and other poems” (1999), “Owain Glyn Dwr” 1400-2000 (2000) and “One Moonlit Night” (1991), the latter being translations from the Welsh of traditional stories by T. Llew Jones. She has also written for stage, television and radio, several radio plays and poems being broadcast by the BBC.
Gillian Clarke has published several collections of poetry including “Letter From a Far Country” (1982); “Letting in the Rumour” (1989); “The King of Britain’s Daughter” (1993); and “Five Fields” (1998). The latest three collections have all been Poetry Book Society Recommendations.
She is President of Ty Newydd, the Writer’s Centre in North Wales which she co-founded in 1990, and teaches on the M.Phil Writing Course at the University of Glamorgan. She has travelled widely giving poetry readings and lectures, and her work has been translated into ten languages.
Gillian Clarke’s most recent poetry collection is “A Recipe for Water” (2009). In 2008 she published a book of prose, including a journal of the writer’s year, entitled “At The Source”, and was named as Wales' National Poet. In 2010 she was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. In 2011 she was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards. In 2012 she received the Wilfred Owen Association Poetry award. The book “Ice” was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2012.
