Eiluned Lewis

{{Short description|Welsh novelist, poet and journalist (1900–1979)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}{{Infobox person

| birth_name = Janet Eiluned Lewis

| birth_date = 1 November 1900

| birth_place = Penstrowed, Wales

| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|04|15|1900|11|01|df=yes}}

| occupation = Writer, journalist, poet, novelist

}}

Janet Eiluned Lewis (1 November 1900 – 15 April 1979) was a Welsh novelist, poet and journalist.

Early life and education

Janet Eiluned Lewis was born in Penstrowed near Newtown, Montgomeryshire, the daughter of Eveline Griffiths and Hugh Lewis.{{Cite web|url=https://eilunedlewis.com/|title=Life of Eiluned Lewis – recollections and memories from the life of Eiluned Lewis|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-08}} Her father had a tannery business, and her mother was a teacher before marriage, and later a county councillor and justice of the peace.[http://calmview.powys.gov.uk/CalmView/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=MMIL%2f2%2fEL%2fFL The Milford Hall Collection], Newtown. Powys.

The Lewis family had a close friendship with writer Sir James Barrie. He visited for holidays at Glanhafren, the Lewis's home on the banks of the Severn. In letters written to Andrew Birkin by Nico Llewelyn Davies (one of the five boys who were J. M. Barrie's inspiration for Peter Pan) it was suggested that Lewis had once been a girlfriend of Nico's brother Michael. Lewis denied this was the case.{{Cite book|last=Birkin|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Js4hN74g6jIC&pg=PA253|title=J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The Real Story Behind Peter Pan|date=2002-12-01|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09822-8|pages=253|language=en}}

Career

= Journalism =

Eiluned Lewis was a journalist, first at The Daily News and then, after 1934, at the Sunday Times, where she wrote book reviews and drama criticism, and became assistant editor.{{Cite web|url=http://cynonculture.co.uk/wordpress/london-welsh/eiluned-lewis/|title=Eiluned Lewis|last=Roberts|first=Glyn|date=5 February 1935|website=Cynon Culture|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-03-08}}{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Russell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTonDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT272|title=People, Places and Passions: A Social History of Wales and the Welsh 18701948|date=2015-06-15|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-1-78316-239-0|language=en}} In 1936, Lewis traveled to India as personal assistant to Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, a committed Quaker pacifist and leader of the UK Delegation to the World Congress of the International Council of Women, which was held in Calcutta. Lewis was briefly a member of the Peace Pledge Union.Martin Ceadel, Semi-detached idealists : the British peace movement and international relations, 1854-1945 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0199241171}} Lewis was the longest standing contributor to Country Life magazine, and produced "A Country Woman's Notes", a monthly column, for 35 years.

= Literature =

Lewis wrote short stories, articles, lectures, and radio plays. She is perhaps best remembered for her first novel, Dew on the Grass (1934), a bestseller based on her own childhood;{{Cite book|last=Salwak|first=D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rph9DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|title=A Passion for Books|date=1999-04-23|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-37451-5|pages=111|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46362064/childhood-days-live-again/|title=Childhood Days Live Again|date=1934-08-18|work=The Province|access-date=2020-03-08|pages=46|via=Newspapers.com}} it was awarded a gold medal from the Book Guild as Novel of the Year. Her second novel The Captain's Wife (1943) is historical fiction, based on her family's seagoing background in Pembrokeshire.{{Cite news|last=Praed|first=Max|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/59335196?searchTerm=Eiluned%20Lewis&searchLimits=|title=Book Reviews|date=17 June 1945|work=Sunday Times|page=2|via=Trove}}

She compiled and edited the letters of writer Charles Langbridge Morgan, for a collection published in 1967.{{Cite book|last=Morgan|first=Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_vmnQEACAAJ|title=Selected Letters of Charles Morgan, Edited by Eiluned Lewis|date=1967|publisher=Macmillan|language=en}} She wrote a travel book, The Land of Wales (1937), in collaboration with her brother, Peter Lewis.{{Cite news|last=W. E.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46362261/the-land-of-walesw-e/|title=The Land of Wales|date=1937-05-04|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-08|pages=7|via=Newspapers.com}} She also wrote poetry,{{Cite news|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46362395/to-a-dutch-bulbeiluned-lewis/|title=To A Dutch Bulb|date=1946-03-31|work=The Observer|access-date=2020-03-08|pages=3}}{{Cite news|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46362583/reflectionseiluned-lewis/|title=Reflections|date=1940-10-20|work=The Observer|access-date=2020-03-08|pages=4}} including the collection December Apples (1935).{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/196466637|title=December apples: poems|publisher=[S.l. : s.n}}

= After 1979 =

Lewis's Dew on the Grass was republished in 1984 by the Boydell Press in their "Book Masters" series, with an introduction by poet and critic Glenn Cavaliero. In 1996, Cavaliero also compiled and edited A Companionable Talent, a selection of Lewis's occasional pieces, short stories, poems, articles and also her Memoirs, hitherto unpublished.{{Cite book|last=Lewis, Eiluned.|title=A companionable talent : stories, essays and recollections|date=1996|publisher=Finchcocks Press|others=Cavaliero, Glen, 1927-|isbn=0-9529458-0-0|location=Goudhurst, Kent|oclc=86116352}} Dew in the Grass and The Captain's Wife were reprinted in 2008, with new introductions by Katie Gramich, for the Honno Press series Welsh Women's Classics.{{Cite book|last=Lewis, Eiluned.|title=The captain's wife|date=2008|publisher=Honno|others=Gramich, Katie.|isbn=978-1-870206-98-3|location=Dinas Powys|oclc=231885635}}

Lewis's poem "Sing Happy Child" with music by the composer Gaynor Roberts, performed and recorded on 14 December 2019 in St.David's Hall, Cardiff was heard on BBC Wales on Christmas Day 2019. Some of her individual poems, especially "Ship's Sirens" and "The Bride Chest", have been anthologised and are often taught in schools.{{Cite web|url=https://www.swansea.ac.uk/crew/gcse-resources/gcse-resources-2020/eiluned-lewis-ships-sirens/|title=Eiluned Lewis 'Ships' Sirens': A Help-Sheet for Teachers|last=Osbourne|first=Adrian|date=2020|website=GCSE Resources, Swansea University|access-date=2020-03-08}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.swansea.ac.uk/crew/gcse-resources/gcse-resources-2020/eiluned-lewis-the-bride-chest/|title=Eiluned Lewis 'The Bride Chest': A Help-Sheet for Teachers|last=Osbourne|first=Adrian|date=2020|website=GCSE Resources, Swansea University|access-date=2020-03-08}}

Personal life

In February 1937, Lewis married engineer and writer W. Graeme Hendrey. They had one daughter, Katrina. Lewis died in 1979, aged 78.

Works

Dew on the Grass (1934){{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQU1AAAAMAAJ|title=Dew on the grass|date=1934|publisher=The Macmillan Company|language=en}}
December Apples (1935), poems{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/196466637|title=December apples: poems|year=1935}}
The Land of Wales (1937), with Peter Lewis{{Cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Eiluned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jBRAQAAIAAJ|title=The Land of Wales|last2=Lewis|first2=Peter|date=1949|publisher=B. T. Batsford, Limited|language=en}}
The Captain's Wife (1943){{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yf0dAQAAIAAJ|title=The Captain's Wife|date=2008|publisher=Honno|isbn=978-1-870206-98-3|language=en}}
Morning Songs and other poems (1944)
In Country Places (1951), collected Country Life magazine journalism{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDNaAAAAYAAJ|title=In Country Places|date=1951|publisher=Country Life|isbn=9787800419836|language=en}}
The Leaves of the Tree (1953){{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/12095925|title=The leaves of the tree|date=1953|publisher=P. Davies|language=en}}
Honey Pots and Brandy Bottles (1954), more essays from Country Life, with illustrations by Agnes Miller Parker{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Eiluned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sEozQEACAAJ|title=Honey Pots and Brandy Bottles ... With Wood Engravings by Agnes Miller Parker. [Essays.].|date=1954|publisher=Country Life|language=en}}
Selected Letters of Charles Morgan (1967), editor
The Old Home (1981), memoirs
A Companionable Talent: stories, essays & recollections (1996)