31 Stories in May at Hay!: Day 6 - 'And a Spoonful of Grief to Taste' by Gwyn Thomas
Every day throughout May, you will be able to visit the Library of Wales website to download your free story, drawn from Story, vols I and II - a collection boasting the finest Welsh short fiction ever written and featuring some of the most talented literary names from both past and present, including the legendary Dylan Thomas and the award-winning Rachel Trezise, as well as read all about the chosen author.
Day 5: 'And a Spoonful of Grief to Taste' by Gwyn Thomas
(Taken from Where Did I Put My Pity? Folk Tales from the Modern Welsh, 1946)
Gwyn Thomas was born in 1913 in the Rhondda Valley. He studied Spanish at Oxford and spent time in Spain during the early 1930s. He obtained part-time lecturing jobs across England before deciding to become a schoolteacher in Wales. He retired from that profession in 1962 to work full-time as a writer and broadcaster. He wrote extensively across several genres including essays, short stories, novels and plays, and was widely translated. His fictional works include The Dark Philosophers (1946) and All Things Betray Thee (1949), the drama The Keep (1962) and an autobiography, A Few Selected Exits (1968). Gwyn Thomas was given the Honour for Lifetime Achievement by Arts Council Wales in 1976. He died in 1981.
You can download the story in PDF format here. (If download does not start, then right click the link and select 'Save link as'.)
Selected bibliography
The Dark Philosophers (Library of Wales, 2005)
The Alone to the Alone (Library of Wales, 2008)
All Things Betray Thee (Library of Wales, 2011)
Story II (anthology) (Library of Wales, 2014)
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