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Owen Sheers Information

Owen Sheers (born 20th September 1974) is a Welsh poet, author, playwright, actor and TV presenter.[1] He is the first writer in residence to be appointed by any national rugby union.

Contents

Biography

Owen Sheers was born in Suva, Fiji in 1974 and brought up in Abergavenny, South Wales. He was educated at King Henry VIII comprehensive school, Abergavenny, New College, Oxford, and at the University of East Anglia where he did an MA in Creative Writing.[2]

The winner of an Eric Gregory Award and the 1999 Vogue Young Writer’s Award, 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’s Ondaatje Prize and won the Wales Book of the Year 2005.

In 2004 Owen 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) has been translated into ten languages and was short listed for the Writer's Guild of Great Britain Best Book Award 2008 and won a 2008 Hospital Club Creative Award. The film of this novel, which Owen co-wrote, was released in autumn 2011. In 2007 Owen collaborated with composer Rachel Portman onThe Water Diviner’s Tale, an oratorio for children which was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms. In 2007/8 Owen was a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library.

In 2009 Owen published the novella 'White Ravens', a contemporary response to the myth of Branwen Daughter of Llyr, written as part of Seren's series of 'New Stories from the Mabinogion. He also published an anthology of British landscape poetry to accompany his TV series of the same title, 'A Poet's Guide to Britain.

Owen has also written journalism and reportage for Granta, The Guardian, Esquire, GQ, The Times, The Financial Times, and a play for BBC Radio 4 about the WWII poet Alun Lewis, 'If I Should Go Away'. In 2011, Owen wrote the script and novelisation ('The Gospel of Us) of The Passion for National Theatre Wales and WildWorks. 'The Gospel of Us has been re-published by Seren. He also participated in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six where he wrote a short play 'The Fair & Tender' based upon the book of Ezekiel in the King James Bible[3] In January 2012 Owen wrote The Two Worlds of Charlie F, a play based on the experiences of wounded soldiers, many of whom also made up the cast of the production, directed by Stephen Rayne and performed at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Rugby union

In December 2011, Owen Sheers became the first writer in residence at the Welsh Rugby Union.[4] Sheers was also a minor rugby player himself at scrum half for Gwent county XV.[4]

Actor & TV Presenter

He has played Wilfred Owen on stage and has presented arts programmes for BBC Wales.

In 2009 he wrote and presented the BBC 4 series about poetry and the British landscape, A Poet's Guide to Britain.

He has also presented 'The Art of the Sea' for BBC 4 and several programmes for BBC Radio 3 and 4.

In 2008 he presented two episodes of BBC Radio 4's 'Open Book' programme.

Awards and honours

Works

References

  1. ^ Poetry Archive
  2. ^ BBC Wales Arts
  3. ^ http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/
  4. ^ a b Writer Owen Sheers appointed WRU's first poet-in-residence on Wales Online

External links

Persondata
Name Sheers, Owen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth 1974
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

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