The 50-year archive of a renowned Congleton-born writer has been officially received by the National Library of Wales.
David Jones, who writes under the surname Annwn, donated his collection, which contains hundreds of valuable documents including his own work, correspondences with Nobel prize-winners Seamus Heaney and Tomas Tranströmer, plus the work of his great-uncle, the prominent Welsh poet Henry Lloyd – known as “ap Hefin”.
He said it was an “incredible and very rare honour” for the archive to be accepted.
Mr Jones, a writer, poet, critic and magic lanternist, was born in Holmesville Avenue, Congleton.
He said: “Congleton and its amazing sand quarries are the basis of everything I write.”
As we have previously reported, he delivered an illustrated talk entitled “Children of Sand” to a packed audience of Congleton History Society just before the first covid lockdown.
Mr Jones attended St James’s Infant and Junior School, was a member of Congleton Scout Group’s Cubs pack and his father taught at Danesford School.
He has lived in Wakefield since 1981. He was head of English at Wakefield College, where he taught for 16 years, before going on to lecture for the Open University in Leeds and Manchester for 20 years.
He told the “Wakefield Express”: “For an Anglo-Welsh writer like myself, long resident in west Yorkshire, the recent archiving of my work of over 50 years including correspondence with Nobel prize-winners by the National Library of Wales is an incredible and very rare honour.”
