Fflur Dafydd has won two of Wales' top fiction prizes, the National Eisteddfod Prose Medal (2006) for Atyniad, and the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize (2009) for Y Llyfrgell. As author and singer-songwriter, she has performed in festivals throughout Europe, undertaking residencies in Helsinki and on Bardsey Island. She has a PhD on the poetry of R.S. Thomas and currently lectures in Creative Writing at Swansea University. At 31, she is the author of three Welsh-language novels. This is her first novel in English, for which she was named Oxfam Hay Emerging Writer of the Year in May 09.

Oxfam Hay Emerging Writer of the Year, 2009.

"The most compelling novel I’ve read in years; a love story, a thriller, and a profound meditation on language and identity... my fiction pick of the [festival] year."
Peter Florence, Guardian Hay Festival

“A wild, exhilarating read.”
Catherine Taylor, The Guardian, 27/9/08

"Sarah Waters, Kate Atkinson, Zoe Heller and Fflur Dafydd... [part of] the blossoming and triumphs of a whole new generation of young women writers."
Peter Florence, The Western Mail, May 2009

"Bristles with imagery, yet moves with the languid pace of island life through language and culture, myth and misunderstanding, sexuality and privacy. It is warm, witty, intelligent, perceptive and beautifully crafted. [Dafydd] has the precision of a thriller writer while always in full command of her disparate characters." The Western Mail

"Brilliant... one of the best reads for decades."
Peter Finch, The Western Mail

2008 Pick of the Year. "Fflur Dafydd’s compelling novel merits five or six hours of pleasure and attention."
Prospect Magazine, Jan 2009

“Wry and tender... about the relationship between nature and civilisation... relationships... the lure of being alone... [and] necessary uncertainty.” Anna Kiernan, New Welsh Review
"Proof that Welsh writing is going through another of its frequent golden ages - hip young things ripping up and remaking Cymru Cymraeg and English Wales in ever more fascinating ways, unbound by Celtic Twilightism or dour socialist realism."
plashingvole.blogspot.com, Feb 2009

Welsh Women to Watch in 2009, Mslexia, Jan 2009

**** Four Star Review: "[Fflur] Dafydd is a magical writer and an acute observer of human nature. What a joy to find such a languorous piece of Sapphic speculation in the opening pages of this wonderful novel!"
Diva Magazine (Oct 2008)

"An exciting and thought provoking novel about love, lust and secrets."
Waterfront Magazine
"The prose is luminous and Dafydd writes with a poet’s eye…a beautifully crafted piece of writing imbued with a strange power to hold the attention of the reader on the eternal questions of love, loss, communication, passion and what it is to be alive. Anyone with an interest in the human condition should have it on their shelves." Dai Blatchford, Swansea Life, Oct 2008

“Mischief and madness are found in all ... places on the ... Bardsey Island of this novel ... Fflur Dafydd’s poetic narrative breathes life into her ... characters ... unearth[ing] each [one’s] ... secret, and compel[ling] the reader to dig deeper. Twenty Thousand Saints is a dark, comedic thriller that explores intense bonds between people and their loved ones ... a gripping read.”
Abi Rhodes, The Spokesman Journal (December 2008)

"A whipcracking mystery ... also exploring sex, friendship and love in an island setting that is both claustrophobic and inhibition-freeing ... Bardsey Island is the novel's main character, its depiction inspiring the reader to go there themselves ... most impressive is the awkwardness and longing the characters grapple with as they face their departure."
Elin Llwyd Morgan, Barn

Oxfam Hay Emerging Writer of the Year, 2009; Iowa International Writing Program fellow, 09; Prospect Pick of the Year, 08; MsLexia Woman to Watch, 09