author
Wirt Sikes
1836–1883
Best remembered for bringing Welsh folklore to a wide English-language audience, this American journalist and writer spent years turning local legends, customs, and fairy tales into lively books. His work still stands as a classic doorway into the myths and traditions of Wales.
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About the author
Born in Watertown, New York, in 1836, Wirt Sikes was an American journalist and writer who was largely self-educated after a childhood marked by poor health. He worked in newspapers and literary journalism before building a wider reputation through essays, fiction, and travel writing.
He is most closely associated with Wales. After being appointed United States consul at Cardiff in 1876, he immersed himself in Welsh life and collected stories, beliefs, and traditions that many English-speaking readers had never encountered before. That experience shaped the book for which he is best known, British Goblins (1880), a lively and influential study of Welsh folklore.
Sikes also wrote about Welsh history, customs, and everyday life in other books, helping introduce the country to readers outside Wales. He died in Cardiff in 1883, but his writing remains valued for its curiosity, storytelling energy, and lasting importance in the study of folklore.