Gwyneth Lewis

Honorary Fellow Gwyneth Lewis (Balliol 1985) is Artist in Residence for Hilary Term 2025.

Gwyneth Lewis was the first National Poet of Wales and wrote the words on the front of the Wales Millennium Centre, which have become an national icon. She did her DPhil in English at Balliol, was elected Honorary Fellow and, for the last three years, has spent Hilary at college as Visiting Artist. She was awarded an MBE for services to literature and mental health. 

Gwyneth is a prize-winning poet in Welsh and English and was given a Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award in 2010 for a distinguished body of work. Her third non-fiction book, Nightshade Mother: A Disentangling (Calon, 2024), is a memoir about emotional abuse and was named a Guardian Book of the Year. First Rain in Paradise, her tenth collection, is published by Bloodaxe in March.