Sian Northey is a freelance author, poet, translator and editor. A first language Welsh speaker, she writes in Welsh/Cymraeg and mainly translates from English to Welsh, and occasionally in the other direction. She is the author of three novels for adults – two of which, Rhyd y Gro (Gwasg Gomer*, 2016) and Yn y Tŷ Hwn (Gwasg Gomer*, 2011) were selected for our Bookshelf – one poetry collection, three short story collections, several scripts, and numerous children’s and young adult novels. Amongst Sian’s translations into Welsh are the memoir The Journey is Home by John Sam Jones, and Alys Conran’s award-winning debut novel, Pigeon. She’s also translated Lee Newbery’s The Last Firefox (Penguin Random House, 2022) under the title Y Llwynog Tân Olaf (Firefly Press, 2022) and is one of two guest editors of Arachne Press's Welsh/English bilingual poetry anthologies A470, and Afonydd.

A translation (Susan Walton) of Sian’s novel Yn y Tŷ Hwn was published under the title This House (3TimesRebel Press) in 2024, and she is one of the six poets whose work, translated by Robert Minnhinick, appears in Alcatraz, a collection that will be published by Carcanet early in 2026. Sian is currently working on her second poetry collection which will be published by Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp.

Sian has visited Kerala as a member of a translation poetry workshop through our sister organisation Literature Across Frontiers (see photos here) and was recently a Poet in Residence on an 18-month-long heritage project run by the Church in Wales. She has also spent time as a Writer in Residence on Bardsey/Ynys Enlli, with local food banks, with a community garden and with a landscape conservation site.

*Copyright for Sian’s Gwasg Gomer books are now held by Y Lolfa