D. J. Williams (David John Williams) (1885–1970) was one of the foremost Welsh-language writers of the twentieth-century. He was also a prominent Welsh nationalist.

Williams was born in Rhydcymerau, Carmarthenshire. He studied English at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and Jesus College, Oxford. For most of his life he taught English at the grammar school in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.

A socialist, he was one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh National Party, in 1925. He took part, with Saunders Lewis and Lewis Valentine, in the symbolic burning of a bombing school at Penyberth in north-west Wales in 1936. As a result he spent nine months in Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Williams was a short story writer of renown and also the author of two volumes of autobiography. All is work is inspired by his vision of his native locality, of a close-knit community where common values give worth to all.

He died in 1970 at Rhydcymerau, Carmarthenshire.

Works

• Hen wynebau ("Old faces"), 1934. A portrait of his native locality.
• Storïau'r tir ("Stories of the land"), 1936, 1941, 1949. A series of three volumes of short stories.
• Hen dŷ ffarm ("The old farmhouse"), 1953. Autobiography.
• Yn chwech ar hugain oed ("When I was twenty-six years old"). 1959. Autobiography.
• Y gaseg ddu ("The black mare"), 1970. Short stories.

Sources

• Jenkins, Dafydd (1973), D. J. Williams. Writers of Wales series. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. An English introduction to his life and work.

• 'Williams, David John (1885-1970)'. In Meic Stephens (Ed.) (1998), The new companion to the literature of Wales. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708313833.