Sheila Llewellyn
{{Short description|Novelist from Northern Ireland (born 1948/49)}}
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Sheila Llewellyn (born 1948) is a writer in Northern Ireland. Her first novel, Walking Wounded (2018), was based on events in Burma in the Second World War when a decision was made to kill some seriously injured soldiers who could not be evacuated, rather than leave them to possible torture by the approaching Japanese army. Her second novel, Winter in Tabriz (2021), set in Iran in 1979, won the inaugural Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, for a novel focusing on travel, in 2022. Philip Hensher chose it as one of his "Books of the Year" in The Spectator, describing it as "a revelation – long considered and slowly overwhelming with its sense of time and place".
Life
Sheila Llewellyn was born in 1948 in Manchester, England, of Welsh heritage.{{Cite web |last=Leonard |first=Sue |date=2018-02-21 |title=Sheila Llewellyn |url=https://suejleonard.com/articles/beginners-pluck/sheila-llewellyn/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Sue Leonard |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Sheila Llewellyn (Author) |url=https://amheath.com/authors/sheila-llewellyn |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=amheath.com |language=en-GB}} She has dual British/Irish citizenship, and lives and works in Northern Ireland.{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Laurence |date=2 January 2018 |title=Incredible real-life story behind Sheila Llewellyn's brilliant first novel |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/books/incredible-real-life-story-behind-sheila-llewellyns-brilliant-first-novel/36449968.html |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk}}{{cite news |last1=Toner |first1=Aine |date=7 August 2021 |title=Living and working in pre-revolutionary Iran, plus an interest in dissident writers, led to author Sheila Llewellyn's second historical fiction |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/books/living-and-working-in-pre-revolutionary-iran-plus-an-interest-in-dissident-writers-led-to-author-sheila-llewellyns-second-historical-fiction/40725005.html |access-date=3 July 2023}} Llewellyn lived in Ghana with her father as a child, before moving back to Manchester for her education. She attend the Goyt Bank Technical High School for Girls (now Offerton School), in Stockport, before studying psychology, education and creative writing at Manchester University, Oxford University and Queens University Belfast. In 2016 she also earned a PhD in creative writing from the Seamus Heaney Centre.
Llewellyn's first novel, Walking Wounded (2018), was based on events in Burma in the Second World War when a decision was made to kill some seriously injured soldiers who could not be evacuated, rather than leave them to possible torture by the approaching Japanese army. The Guardian{{'s}} reviewer called it a "quietly self-assured first novel" and "a beautifully turned piece of work", which bore comparison to Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy.{{cite news |last1=Lowry |first1=Elizabeth |date=1 February 2018 |title=Walking Wounded by Sheila Llewellyn review – beautiful and humane debut |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/01/walking-wounded-sheila-llewellyn-review |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2018-07-26 |title=ANOTHER FINE REVIEW FOR SHEILA LLEWELLYN - Write By The Sea Literary Festival |url=https://writebythesea.ie/another-fine-review-for-sheila-llewellyn/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Write By The Sea |language=en-GB}}
Her second novel, Winter in Tabriz (2021), set in Iran in 1979, won the inaugural Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, for a novel focusing on travel, in 2022.{{cite web |title=Sheila Llewellyn wins Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize |url=https://artscouncil-ni.org/news/sheila-llewellyn-wins-gordon-bowker-volcano-prize |access-date=3 July 2023 |website=Arts Council NI |language=en}}{{cite web |date=12 July 2021 |title=The Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize: Past winners |url=https://www2.societyofauthors.org/prizes/the-soa-awards/volcano-prize/ |access-date=3 July 2023 |publisher=Society of Authors}} Philip Hensher chose it as one of his "Books of the Year" in The Spectator, describing it as "a revelation – long considered and slowly overwhelming with its sense of time and place".{{cite news |last1= |first1= |date=2 November 2022 |title=Books of the Year I — chosen by our regular reviewers |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/books-of-the-year-i-chosen-by-our-regular-reviewers-2/ |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=The Spectator}}
Selected publications
- Walking Wounded (2108, Sceptre: {{ISBN|978-1473663107}})
- Winter in Tabriz (2021, Sceptre: {{ISBN|978-1473663145}})
References
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Category:Novelists from Northern Ireland
Category:Women novelists from Northern Ireland