Dai Smith RSS

'The Crossing is an engrossing read filled with interesting people' writes Sarah Tanburn in her glowing review of Dai Smith's latest novel. Filled with 'muscular prose', it asks fundamental questions about both the past and the future of a Cymru built on coal and the strong backs of miners.

'The Crossing demands we ask ourselves those urgent questions about the future even as we wonder who sired whom and who will come off worst in the next violent encounter. The reader needs to put in the time to follow these threads but the resulting tapestry rewards in its rich detail and new insights.'

Prepare to be immersed in four days of Welsh literary splendour, as the Llansteffan Literary Festival takes place this June. With the festival opening on June 8, an exhibition of famous writers associated with this historic village will be a sure-fire draw to literary and historical enthusiasts alike. Glyn Jones, Lynette Roberts and Dylan Thomas are some of the poets and novelists featured in this exhibition. Hosted by local historian Diana Bevan, readings of their works are included before the launch of Peter J. Jones’s new poetry collection A Fox in the Yard; what better way to begin celebrating Llansteffan...

Congratulations to Dai Smith, longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2017 for All That Lies Beneath/What I Know I Cannot Say.

The list of 40 books includes well established authors such as Mark Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), Susan Hill (The Woman in Black) and Helen Oyeyemi (Boy, Snow, Bird) as well as up-and-coming writers. The winner, to be announced at Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, will receive a £10,000 prize.

Dai Smith, born in Rhondda in 1945, is a Welsh writer and historian who was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to culture and the arts in Wales. He has been a professor in History at Lancaster University, Cardiff University and Swansea University from 1969 until 1993, being awarded with a personal chair by the University of Wales in 1986. 

In 1993 he took up a position as editor for the BBC, working on Radio Wales and later on in 1994 became the Head of Broadcast (English Language) at BBC Wales, for which he commissioned various award-winning programmes, especially in the Arts and Drama until 2000. He became the Raymond Williams chairman in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University in 2005 and in 2007 he was appointed Arts Council of Wales chairman.

Series Editor of the Library of Wales for classic works written in English from or about Wales, Smith is also chair of the judging panel for the International Dylan Thomas Prize.