Henry
Miller
In
1953 'Crazy Cock' made a pilgrimmage to Corwen to visit his
literary idol John Cowper Powys.
Ralph
Ellison
The
great African-American novelist spent time in Swansea during WW2
whilst serving in the merchant marine. He even wrote some short
stories with a Welsh setting including: The
Red Cross at Morriston, Swansea S.W. and In
a Strange Country.
Joseph
Conrad
Conrad
visited South Wales on several occasions. In 1896 he spent
Christmas and New Year with Polish friends in Cardiff. During one
particular stay he worked on his manuscript for The
Nigger of the Narcissus.
HG Wells
School
master at the Holt Academy near Wrexham in 1887.
Allen
Ginsberg
During
the summer of 1967 Beat poet Ginsberg stayed at a cottage in
Wales, dropped some acid and wrote the poem:
Wales Visitation.
Eugene
Ionesco
Once
did a reading at the Oriel bookshop in Charles Street, Cardiff.
Norman
Mailer
Along
with Gore Vidal he was guest in chief at the Hay-on-Wye book
festival in 2000.
Mark Twain
Twain
chose the name “Cardiff Hill” in
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer after visiting
Cardiff, Wales. The cliffs there, he remarked, reminded him of
the hill in Hannibal - where the book is set. If anybody knows
which cliffs he was referring to... don't hesitate to email and
enlighten me.
Kenzaburo
Oe
Ultra
cool Japanese writer developed an obsession for the poetry of RS
Thomas and simply had to come to Wales to recite the Welshman's
work aloud.
John
Steinbeck
Toured
Wales in 1959 whilst researching a book on King Arthur. The
Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights
was published posthumously in 1976.
Martha
Gellhorn
Writer,
journalist and former Mrs Ernest Hemmingway lived near Chepstow
for a while in her cottage: Catscradle.
She wrote one particularly good piece on the miners' strike
contrasting the community spirit of Valleys women with the Lady
Macbeth-like evil of Thatcher.