Williams, Roger 1974-

PERSONAL:

Born 1974, in Carmarthen, Wales. Education: Graduated from the University of Warwick, 1995.

CAREER:

Playwright and screenwriter.

AWARDS, HONORS:

BAFTA Award nomination for best drama series, for Tales from the Pleasure Beach.

WRITINGS:

PLAYS

Surfing Carmarthen Bay, 1995.

Love in Aberdare, 1997.

Gulp!, 1997, published in Safar, Gulp, My Piece of Happiness, edited by Jeff Teare, Parthian Books (Cardiff, Wales), 1998.

Calon Lan, 1997.

Saturday Night Forever, 1998.

Killing Kangaroos, 1999.

Pop, 2000.

Y Byd-ai Brawd, 2004.

Me, a Giant, 2005.

Mother Tongue, Parthian Books (Chester Springs, PA), 2005.

OTHER

Tales from the Pleasure Beach (television movie), BBC 2, 2002.

Contributor to New Welsh Drama, edited by Jeff Teare, Parthian Books (Cardiff, Wales), 1998, and New Welsh Drama II, edited by Jeff Teare, Parthian Books (Chester Springs, PA), 2001. Writer for the Welsh television soap opera Pobol y Cwm, for S4C.

SIDELIGHTS:

Roger Williams was born and raised in Carmarthen, Wales, a locale that has influenced his writing from his earliest work. The author of numerous plays and works for screen and radio, Williams graduated from the University of Warwick in England in 1995, having studied English and American literature. His first theatrical play, Surfing Carmarthen Bay, was completed that same year. Williams writes in both English and his native Welsh, and the subjects of his work often include Welsh themes, such as concern for the survival of the language, the plight of industry in Wales, and the homosexual community in Cardiff. Mother Tongue, published in 2005, focuses on a group of linguists as they attempt to win a pool of grant money, for which they are each other's primary competition. Jack Helbig, in a review in Booklist, noted that this subject matter is not the type to normally attract attention, but called the play "a fascinating, highly readable work," and went on to add: "Williams displays a rare gift for finding drama in heady ideas."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2006, Jack Helbig, review of Mother Tongue, p. 21.