Iwan Llwyd was born in Llanidloes, mid-Wales, forty-six years ago, and now lives in Talybont near Bangor, north Wales. He won the crown at the National Eisteddfod in 1990 for his series of poems "Gwreichion" (Sparks), and the Welsh Arts Council Book of the Year award in 1997 for his volume Dan Ddylanwad (Under the Influence). His poetry has taken him to the U.S., Canada, Poland, and the rest of Wales, and he is currently working on a play based on the last days of another Welsh poet, Hedd Wyn, killed on the last day of July, 1917.