Nigel Jenkins

Nigel Jenkins (born 1949) is one of Wales's foremost poets. Jenkins is also an editor, journalist, broadcaster and writer of creative non-fiction. He is currently a lecturer on Swansea University's Creative and Media Writing Programme.

Jenkins was brought up on a farm on the former Kilvrough estate in the Gower Peninsula, and educated at the University of Essex; he lives in Mumbles, Swansea. His early work can be found, with that of Tony Curtis and Duncan Bush, in Three Young Anglo-Welsh Poets (1974). Since then he has published several collections of poetry. He won the Arts Council of Wales 1996 Book of the Year prize with his travel book Gwalia in Khasia (1995), and published a selection of his essays and articles as Footsore on the Frontier (2001). He is co-editor of The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, published by the University of Wales Press in 2008.

Poetry Collections

• First Collection (Brighton, 1972).
• Three Young Anglo-Welsh Poets [with Tony Curtis and Duncan Bush] (Welsh Arts Council, 1974).
• Circus (Swansea Poetry Workshop, 1979).
• Song and Dance (Poetry Wales Press, Bridgend, 1981).
• Warhead (Megaton Press, Swansea, 1981).
• Practical Dreams (Galloping Dog Press, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1983).
• Common Ground, ed. Susan Butler [with Roland Mathias, Robert Minhinnick, John *Tripp, Gillian Clarke, Jeremy Hooker and Anne Stevenson] (Poetry Wales Press, Bridgend, 1985).
• Love is a Four-Letter Word [with Dave Hughes and Penny Windsor] (Lovebards Press, Swansea, 1988).
• Glas-Nos: Cerddi Dros Heddwch/Poems for Peace, ed. with Menna Elfyn (CND Cymru, Machynlleth, 1987)
• Acts of Union: Selected Poems 1974-1989 (Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1990).
• Six Cosmic Gnomes (Swansea City Council, 1991).
• The Works, ed. (Welsh Union of Writers, Cardiff, 1992).
• Khasia in Gwalia, ed., an anthology of poetry and prose from the Khasi Hills (Alun Books, Port Talbot, 1995).
• Remember Tomorrow, an audio tape of 37 poems (Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1997).
• Ambush (Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1998).
• A Body of Questions (Red Pagoda Press, Pennsylvania, 2002).
• Blue: 101 Haiku, Senryu and Tanka (Planet Books, Aberystwyth, 2002).
• Hotel Gwales (Gomer Press, Llandysul, 2006).
• O for a gun: 101 Haiku and Senryu (Planet Books, Aberystwyth, 2007).

Poetry translated into the languages of and published in France, Germany, Hungary, Holland and Russia; in 1998, the Russian journal Literatura Innostranya (Foreign Literature) published a selection of his poems, in Russian translation, in a feature on his work.

Poetry also composed for public places, in response to commissions from various public bodies, and executed in stone, steel, neon, glass and other materials.

Jenkins' translations of modern Welsh poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies worldwide, including The Bloodaxe Anthology of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003).

Prose

• In a City Garden, an essay on the art of David Barron (Swansea Museum Services, Swansea, 1988).
• Gwalia in Khasia (Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul, 1995).
• Wales: the Lie of the Land, with the photographer Jeremy Moore (Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1996).
• Llangadog, an illustrated essay on Garn Goch Iron Age Hillfort, in the Gregynog Press's 'Places' series (1996).
• Literary Wales, an illustrated map commissioned by the Welsh Academy for the Wales Tourist Board (1997).
• Footsore on the Frontier: Selected Essays and Articles (Gomer Press, 2001).
• Through the Green Door: Travels Among the Khasis (Penguin, India, 2002).
• The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, co-ed. (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2008)
• Real Swansea (Real Wales Series) (Seren, Bridgend, 2008).
• Gower, with the photographer David Pearl (Gomer Press, Llandysul, 2009).

Countless articles, reviews and essays published in a wide range of newspapers, journals and magazines.

Criticism

• John Tripp, a critical biography in the 'Writers of Wales' series (University of Wales Press, 1989).
• Thirteen Ways of Looking at Tony Conran, edited and introduced (Welsh Union of Writers, 1995).

Plays

• Strike a Light!, toured by the Made in Wales Theatre Company in 1985.
• Waldo's Witness, performed by Coracle Theatre in 1986.

Radio and television scripts/presentation included

• Fields of Praise (a half hour documentary on the Urdd) for 'Kaleidoscope', BBC Radio 4, May 1987.
• Gwalia yng Nghasia, a three-part documentary series for S4C, March/April 1994.
• TV Ballads: At Home, BBC Wales, 1995 and BBC 2, 1996.
• Gwalia in Khasia, a one-hour documentary for BBC Wales (1995).
• Kardomah Boys, about Dylan Thomas and his fellow Swansea artists, in the BBC Wales 'Catalysts' series, September '97.

Prizes

• 1998: John Tripp Spoken Poetry Award.
• 1996: Welsh Arts Council's Book of the Year Award, for Gwalia in Khasia.
• 1991: John Morgan Writing Award (Welsh Writers' Trust).
• 1976: Eric Gregory Award for poetry (Society of Authors).
• 1974: Welsh Arts Council's Young Poets Prize.
• Two Welsh Arts Council bursaries.

Sources

• Centre for Research in to the English Literature and Language of Wales http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/crew/nigel_jenkins.htm
• Gomer Press http://www.gomer.co.uk/gomer/en/gomer.SearchBook/Author/588
• Swansea University: http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/postgrad/home.html
• [1]

Persondata
Name	Jenkins, Nigel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1949
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death