Novelist Caryl Lewis wins Wales Book of the Year

Caryl Lewis, an award-winning Welsh language writer, has won Wales Book of the Year 2023

Caryl Lewis has won £4,000 for the Wales Book of the Year Award 2023.

Her debut English language novel Drift, a love story set between the Welsh coast and warn-torn Syria, was called a "stunning piece of fiction" by the judges.

The novelist, children's writer, playwright and screenwriter won the Welsh language Wales Book of the Year Award in 2005 and 2016.

"It’s quite surreal," Ms Lewis said as she accepted the award. "I’m just astounded because there were so many fantastic writers."

She is a creative writing lecturer at Cardiff University and a screenwriter for the BBC/S4C thrillers Hinterland and Hidden.

Ms Lewis lives on a farm on the outskirts of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion and studied at Durham and Aberystwyth universities.

Her breakthrough novel Martha, Jac a Sianco is widely regarded as a modern classic of Welsh literature, with the film adaptation winning six Welsh BAFTAs.

After two decades writing in Welsh, she said she started to wonder during the Covid lockdown if it was possible to "find her creative voice" in her second language.

"I think as a creative person you want to push yourself, to push you boundaries. There is such a richness of literature in Wales in both languages."

Literature Wales gave out prizes in 10 categories including Welsh-language book of the year to Llŷr Titus for his book Pridd

Drift is about young woman from Wales and a refugee from Syria falling in love.

Judge Emily Burnett said: "This piece of writing made us want to read out loud, to feel the tangible lure of magical words in our mouths."

She said the book seemed to "defy the categories" with a mixture of "poetry, creative non-fiction, the magic of children’s literature and the power of fiction".

"It is a stunning piece of fiction," she added.