Richard Gwyn

Richard Gwyn grew up in south Wales, and following several years in London spent most of the 1980s travelling on and around the Mediterranean, chronicled in his memoir The Vagabond’s Breakfast (Wales Book of the Year for nonfiction, 2012). His books include the novels The Colour of a Dog Running Away, Deep Hanging Out and The Blue Tent, and the poetry collections Walking on Bones, Being in Water, Sad Giraffe Café and Stowaway: A Levantine Adventure. Between 2011-2015 he travelled widely in Latin America, compiling and translating a landmark anthology, The Other Tiger: Recent Poetry from Latin America. His other translations include collections by the poets Joaquín O. Giannuzzi, Darío Jaramillo and Fabio Morábito. He is the author of Ricardo Blanco’s Blog, which can be found at richardgwyn.com.

Praise for AMBASSADOR OF NOWHERE (2024):

'Richard Gwyn journeys through the literature and landscapes of Latin America with the attentive gaze of someone on the lookout for the unexpected, and the conspiratorial air of one who makes close friends of perfect strangers. The ‘Ambassador of Nowhere’ deals in equal measure with poets and beggars, demystifies the colonial gaze of famous authors, and delves into the mysteries of Spanish with the wisdom of an interpreter of dreams. An existential pilgrim, Gwyn explores himself, too, and ends his Odyssey at his place of origin, by his father’s side. The paradox of this solitary adventure is that its author becomes the best of travelling companions.' Juan Villoro

'Richard Gwyn is a keen explorer of Latin American maps, as attentive to small anecdotes as he is to the larger conflicts that define a society. His way of joining up poetry, political critique and autobiographical narrative is no less remarkable than his ability to make links between countries with very different traditions . . . To accompany this empathetic traveller, tragicomic chronicler and passionate scholar of an entire continent is a rare pleasure, as well as a beautiful demonstration that we only ever belong to a place if we keep our eyes open.' Andrés Neuman 

'A wonderfully rich and immersive tour through the lands and literatures of Latin America, but very much more than that. Gwyn explores translation and alcoholism, history, mortality and Welsh identity with the same acute and generous eye.' Tom Bullough

'With his customary ranging intelligence and elegance of prose Richard Gwyn here presents the rewarding and probing life of the peregrinating writer, flying back and fore between Wales and Latin America much like the migrations of Manx shearwater, which similarly bridges continents with ease. A series of informative, revealing and meditative journals – with poetry set very much at the heart – they remind us how Gwyn is one of the most companionable of writers and most perceptive of cultural guides.' Jon Gower