Owen Sheers is a Welsh poet (born in Suva, Fiji) who created two poetry collections, The Blue Book and Skirrid Hill which won the Somerset Maugham Award. Born on September 20, 1974, he has written several books, plays, and poems. He is known for being a “poet, author, playwright, and TV presenter”.
The Blue Book was published in 2000 by Seren. It is a collections of his poems all centered upon his first love, his family, and life working on a farm. It’s more personal, where he talks about what he remembers from Fiji and how hard it was to live in the tough little town he was in. It was put on the list for Wales Book of the Year, and also won the Forward Prize for 'Best First Collection'. Some of the critiques that came after the publication said that the poems are “beautiful and clever, but also accessible - this isn't the kind of poetry that you need a literature degree to understand.”
His second poem publication, Skirrid Hill, published in 2005, won the Somerset Maugham Award. This collection is mainly centered on the hardships that come with leaving childhood behind, and having to face adulthood. It expresses the pains of separation and divorce, and the torment of having to move on. Critics and commenters say that “This is one of those rare collections of poems where virtually every single poem seemed to sparkle, move and erupt with meaning.”
Sheers is now a professor at Swansea University. His poems were adapted and translated and he has written playwrights for the stage. He is an avid author and his first novel has been translated into ten languages. Sheers is active in writing and poetry to this day, still passionate about it, and still contributing his work to the world.
