Owen Sheers (born 1974) is a Welsh Wales /ˈweɪlz/ (Welsh: Cymru; pronounced /ˈkəmrɨ/ (help·info)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. Wales has a population estimated at three million and is officially bilingual; both Welsh and English have equal status and bilingual signs are the poet, author, playwright, actor and TV presenter.[1]
Contents |
Early Years & Education
Owen Sheers was born in Fiji Fiji /ˈfiːdʒiː/ (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fijian Hindustani: फ़िजी), officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands (Fijian: Matanitu Tu-Vaka-i-koya ko Viti; Fijian Hindustani: फ़िजी द्वीप समूह गणराज्य,[citation needed] fiji dvip samooh ganarajya), is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean in 1974 and brought up in Abergavenny, South Wales. He was educated at King Henry VIII comprehensive school, Abergavenny, New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Its official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always called "New College". One of the most famous and, and at the University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia is a public research university in Norwich, England. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities. The University was ranked 28th in the The Times Good University Guide 2010, and joint first for student satisfaction among mainstream universities in the 2006 where he did an MA in Creative Writing.[2]
The winner of an Eric Gregory Award and the 1999 Vogue Young Writer’s Award, he is a former Poet-in-Residence with the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere Grasmere is a village, and popular tourist destination, in the centre of the English Lake District. It takes its name from the adjacent lake of Grasmere, and is associated with the Lake Poets. The poet William Wordsworth, who lived in Grasmere for fourteen years, described it as "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found". His first collection of poetry, The Blue Book (Seren, 2000) was short-listed for the Wales Book of the Year and the Forward Poetry Prize Best 1st Collection, 2001. His debut prose work The Dust Diaries (Faber 2004), a non-fiction narrative set in Zimbabwe, was short-listed for the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by King George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury. There are 450 Fellows of the Royal Society of’s Ondaatje Prize and won the Wales Book of the Year 2005.
Owen has also written for Radio, TV and newspapers. In 2004 he was Writer in Residence at The Wordsworth Trust and was selected as one of the Poetry Book Society’s 20 Next Generation Poets. Owen’s 2nd collection of poetry, Skirrid Hill (Seren, 2005) won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award. Unicorns, almost his one man play based on the life and poetry of the WWII poet Keith Douglas was developed by Old Vic, New Voices.
Owen’s first novel, Resistance (UK Faber, 2007/ US Nan Talese/Doubleday 2008) will be translated into ten languages, was short listed for the Writer's Guild of Great Britain Best Book Award 2008 and won a 2008 Hospital Club Creative Award. His recent collaboration with composer Rachel Portman, The Water Diviner’s Tale, an oratorio for children, was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is an arts venue situated in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941 for the BBC Proms 2007. In 2007/8, Sheers was a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library The New York Public Library is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of the United States's most significant research libraries. It is composed of a very large circulating public library system combined with a very large non-lending research library system. It is simultaneously one of the largest public library systems in the. He currently divides his time between New York and Wales.
Owen collaborated with the film maker Ben Thompson on a commissioned poem about Manhattan for Wales Week USA. He contributed a short essay "Watching" to the Saqi Books anthology "Lebanon, Lebanon". Owens also wrote the foreword to Alun Lewis's "In the Green Tree" published by the University of Wales The University of Wales is a confederal university founded in 1893. It has accredited institutions throughout Wales, ranging from nineteenth-century establishments like Aberystwyth and Bangor to post-1992 universities like Newport and institutes of higher education such as UWIC and Glyndŵr University (NEWI). Indeed, the only institution in Wales.
Actor & TV Presenter
He has played Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English and Welsh poet and soldier, regarded by many as one of the leading poets of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his friend Siegfried Sassoon and sat in stark contrast to both the public perception of war at the time, on stage and has presented arts programmes for BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages. He was the presenter of BBC 4's series about poetry and the British landscape, A Poet's Guide to Britain.
Works to date
- The Blue Book (2000)
- The Dust Diaries (2004), a travel memoir through Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three official languages: English, Shona (a Bantu language), and Ndebele, following the life of his great great uncle Arthur Shearly Cripps (Welsh Book of the Year)
- Skirrid Hill (2005) (Somerset Maugham Award)
- Resistance (2007), His first novel, published by Faber & Faber (Hospital Club Creative Award)
References
External links
Categories: 1974 births | Living people Possibly living people, disappeared people and dead people are not included here, including the recently deceased, for which see Category:2010 deaths and preceding categories listing deaths for 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, etc | Alumni of New College, Oxford | Alumni of the University of East Anglia | Anglo-Welsh poets | Welsh poets Poets of Welsh nationality, writing in Welsh or English language | Welsh novelists | People from Abergavenny
