Harri Pritchard Jones was born in the Midlands in 1933 and was brought up on Anglesey. He was educated on Anglesey and in Trinity College, Dublin. Although he worked as a doctor and a psychiatrist, his main interest was literature. He published fifteen volumes of work including novels, collections of short stories, translations and literary criticism. He also wrote a number of scripts for TV programmes. His work has been translated into seven languages, and has been read on Radio Cymru, Radio Wales, BBC Radio 3 and 4 and Radio Denmark. He has won prizes from the National Eisteddfod and the Arts Council. Between 1991 and 1996, he was the chairman of The Welsh Academy.