Editing Richard Llewellyn

{{short description|British novelist (1906–1983)}}
{{distinguish|Richard Llewellin}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Richard Llewellyn novelist.jpg|thumb|right|Richard Llewellyn]]
'''Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd''' ({{né|'''Richard Herbert Vivian Lloyd'''}};<ref>{{cite news |title=True birthplace of Wales's literary hero |work=BBC News|date=1999-12-05 |url=http://newsalerts.bbc.co.uk/1/low/wales/551486.stm |access-date=2010-04-06 |archive-date=16 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316173733/http://newscdn.bbc.net.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/551486.stm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Faking Literature |author=Ruthven, KK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-521-66015-7 |page=13}}</ref> 8 December 1906, London &ndash; 30 November 1983, Dublin), known by his [[pen name]] '''Richard Llewellyn''' ({{IPAc-en|l|u|ˈ|ɛ|l|ɪ|n}} {{respell|loo|EL|in}}, {{IPA|cy|ɬəˈwɛlɪn|lang}}), was a British novelist of a [[Welsh people|Welsh]] background, who is best remembered for his 1939 novel ''[[How Green Was My Valley]]'', which chronicles life in a [[coal mining]] village in the [[South Wales Valleys]].<ref name="BBC 1">{{cite web|title=Richard Llewellyn |department=Arts |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/richard-llewellyn/ |access-date=2010-04-05 |date=28 November 2008|work=[[BBC Wales]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lloyd, Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn (1906–1983)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101031372/|publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|date=Sep 2004|access-date=2010-04-11}}</ref>

==Biography==
Richard Herbert Vivian Lloyd (he later used the name "Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd") was born in [[Hendon]], [[Middlesex]] in 1906, the second child and only son of William Llewellyn Lloyd, a hotel clerk and later the assistant secretary to a club, and Sarah Anne, ''née'' Thomas.<ref>Contemporary Authors, Pamela Dear, Gale, 1999, p. 352</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31372 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31372 | title=Lloyd, Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn &#91;pseud. Richard Llewellyn&#93; (1906–1983), novelist }}</ref> Only after his death was it discovered that Llewellyn's claim that he was born in [[St Davids]], [[West Wales]], was false.<ref name="BBC 1"/><ref>[http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/anw/browse_index.php?type=persons&page=list11#lbl1385 Llewellyn, Richard, 1906-1983] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212035056/http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/anw/browse_index.php?type=persons&page=list11 |date=2013-12-12 }}</ref>

In the U.S., Llewellyn won the [[List of National Book Award winners#1935 to 1941|National Book Award]] for favourite novel of 1940, voted by members of the [[American Booksellers Association]].<ref name=nyt1941>
"Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 16 February 1941, page BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007).</ref>

He lived a [[Nomad|peripatetic]] existence, travelling widely throughout his life. Before [[World War II]] he spent periods working in [[hotel]]s, wrote a play, worked as a coal miner and produced his best-known novel. During [[World War II]] he rose to the rank of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|Captain]] in the [[Welsh Guards]]. His sister Gwladys (a [[Royal Red Cross]] commandant) and her two daughters were killed during the bombing of London, in June 1944.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Richard |title=Down where the moon is small |date=1966 |publisher=New English Library |page=4 |edition=1976}}</ref> Following the war he worked as a journalist, covering the [[Nuremberg Trials]], and then as a [[screenwriter]] for [[MGM]]. During his lifetime, he lived in a variety of countries, including Italy, China, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya and Israel, in addition to Britain and Ireland.<ref name="Washington Post">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1983/12/02/richard-llewellyn-dies/0f09ac58-cca8-4b61-9e44-f2bf88279187|title=Richard Llewellyn Dies|newspaper=Washington Post|date=2 December 1983|access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref>

Llewellyn married twice: his first wife was Nona Theresa Catherine Sonsteby, whom he married in 1952 and divorced in 1968; his second wife was editor Susan Frances Heimann, whom he married in 1974.<ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31372 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31372 | title=Lloyd, Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn &#91;pseud. Richard Llewellyn&#93; (1906–1983), novelist }}</ref><ref>Contemporary Authors, Pamela Dear, Gale, 1999, p. 352</ref>

Richard Llewellyn died of a heart attack in St. Vincent's Hospital, [[Dublin]] on 30 November 1983.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1983/12/02/richard-llewellyn-dies/0f09ac58-cca8-4b61-9e44-f2bf88279187/ |title=Richard Llewellyn Dies |date=1983-12-02 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref>

==Themes==
Several of his novels dealt with a Welsh theme, the best-known being ''[[How Green Was My Valley]]'' (1939), which won international acclaim and was made into a classic [[How Green Was My Valley (film)|Hollywood film]]. It immortalised the way of life of the [[South Wales Valleys]] [[coal mining]] communities, where Llewellyn spent a small amount of time with his grandfather. Three sequels followed.<ref name="BBC 1"/>

== Bibliography ==
* ''[[Poison Pen: A Play in Three Acts]]'' (1938)
* ''[[How Green Was My Valley]]'' (1939)
* ''[[None but the Lonely Heart (novel)|None but the Lonely Heart]]'' (1943)
* ''[[A Few Flowers for Shiner]]'' (1950)
* ''[[A Flame for Doubting Thomas]]'' (1954)
* ''[[Sweet Witch]]'' (1955)
* ''[[Mr. Hamish Gleave]]'' (1956)
* ''[[The Flame of Hercules]]'' (1957)
* ''[[Warden of the Smoke and Bells]]'' (1958)
* ''[[Chez Pavan]]'' (1959)
* ''[[Up, into the Singing Mountain]]'' (1960)
* ''[[A Man in a Mirror]]'' (1964)
* ''[[Sweet Morn of Judas' Day]]'' (1965)
* ''[[Down Where the Moon is Small]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Bride of Israel My Love]]'' (1973)
* ''[[Hill of Many Dreams]]'' (1974)
* ''[[Green, Green My Valley Now]]'' (1975)
* ''[[At Sunrise, the Rough Music]]'' (1976)
* ''[[Tell Me Now and Again]]'' (1977)
* ''[[A Night of Bright Stars]]'' (1979)
* ''[[I Stand on a Quiet Shore]]'' (1982)

;Edmund Trothe series
* ''[[End of the Rug]]'' (1969)
* ''[[But We Didn't Get the Fox]]'' (1970)
* ''[[White Horse to Banbury Cross]]'' (1972)
* ''[[The Night is a Child]]'' (1974)

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00079 Richard Llewellyn Papers] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn, Richard}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:Culture of Wales]]
[[Category:English people of Welsh descent]]
[[Category:People from Hendon]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Welsh Guards officers]]
[[Category:Anglo-Welsh novelists]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century British novelists]]
[[Category:British male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century British male writers]]