John Cowper Powys

Born in Derbyshire in 1872, John Cowper Powys grew up in a large clerical family and went on to study at Sherborne School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He wrote poetry, essays, criticism, philosophy, and fiction, but he was also famous in his day as a powerful public lecturer.

Powys spent many years in the United States, building a career through lecture tours before his novels won wider recognition. His breakthrough came with Wolf Solent in 1929, followed by the expansive A Glastonbury Romance and the historical novel Owen Glendower. His work is often remembered for its psychological depth, its strong feeling for place, and its fascination with spiritual and philosophical questions.

Later in life he returned to Britain and settled in Wales, where he continued writing into old age. He died in 1963, leaving behind a body of work that still attracts devoted readers for its unusual mix of intensity, imagination, and closeness to the natural world.