Saunders Lewis(1893-1985)
- Writer
Saunders Lewis was a Welsh nationalist, author, critic and playwright.
On 20 January, 1937, Lewis and two others were sentenced to nine months
imprisonment for arson. Lewis, then president of the Welsh Nationalist
Party (Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru) and lecturer at Swansea University,
along with Rev. Lewis Edward Valentine, pastor of the Llandudno Welsh
Baptist Church and David John Williams, senior schoolmaster at
Fishguard County School had in protest set fire to a structure on a RAF
base at Pwllheli, Caernarfonshire, Wales. They felt the recently built
RAF base "was an immoral violation of the sure and natural rights of
the Welsh people". After setting the blaze, the trio informed the
police what they had done and turned themselves in. Lewis, who during
the First World War served as an officer with the South Wales
Borderers, remained neutral throughout the Second World War. Though
considered one of the leading Welsh political figures of the Twentieth
Century, Lewis will probably be best remembered for his literary
legacy. His first play, "Blodeuwedd" ("The woman of flowers") opened in
1923. His play "Buchedd Garmon" ("The life of Germanus") was broadcast
on the BBC in 1937. Later plays like "Siwan" (1956), "Brad"
("Treachery") (1958) and "Esther "(1960) would establish his reputation
as a poet and a philosopher. Lewis wrote two novels, "Monica" in 1930
and "Merch Gwern Hywel" ("The daughter of Gwern Hywel") in 1964. These
works along with many others garnished him a nomination for the 1970
Nobel Prize for Literature.
