Dave Lewis

Praise for my work:

Brian Patten

The poems are sharp, clear, and confident. He has a clarity only
a real poet possesses.

Catrin Collier

A truly great Welsh author, with an eye that describes modern Wales and the damaged lives of the characters who inhabit its green and flourishing post-industrial landscape perfectly.

Mick Evans

An outcry and reassertion of the true feelings of the individual, unhidden, unashamed and fiercely assertive of the beat that runs through us all.

About Me

I’m a Welsh, working-class writer, poet and photographer based in Pontypridd. I've written content for many websites. I’ve worked for BBC Wales, written columns for local newspapers, and been published in several literary magazines and websites worldwide.

In 2007, I set up the first-ever Welsh Poetry Competition, an international poetry competition that ran for 20 years. I also run Poetry Publisher, a poetry book publishing company seeking good writers overlooked by the mainstream publishing industry.

My poetry collection, Scratching The Surface, was praised by Brian Patten, one of my ‘poetry heroes’ and one of Britain’s greatest poets. Makes it all worthwhile.

In 2020, I launched the Maya Poetry Book Awards, an international contest that rewards self-published poets, indies, and small presses by helping promote great poets often overlooked by traditional publishers.

My novel, The Welsh Man, is a Welsh noir, gritty, urban tale set in Wales and the UK.

In May 2023, Libraries.Wales chose me to be their ‘Author of the Month’.

In April 2025, I released Wooden Spoon, a satirical dig at the failure of the WRU as four likely lads journey through the ill-fated 2025 Six Nations rugby campaign.

Next up? More novels I hope… after all, life is short and time is elastic

Featured titles

Ctrl-Alt-Delete

"The novel for the Facebook generation. Ctrl-Alt-Delete is an ambitious tour de force that should put Wales well and truly on the international crime thriller map. Believable characters and a gripping story." - Mark Jones

Going Off Grid

"The book includes a handful of vignettes and reflections of the author’s immediate locale, edited in the style of Julia Margaret Cameron that provide an added texture and insight to the text. Another piece of top drawer writing by one of Wales’s best poets." – Andrew Davies

Wooden Spoon

"A really funny book. Lots of rugby club banter from the Welsh valleys, if a bit naughty in parts. A massive dig at the WRU, as Wales have a terrible 2025 Six Nations campaign. This is a fab book and highlights the downfall of a nation, both rugby-wise and politically." - Sue Gurman

Near Tintern Abbey

Mist is rising off the water.
Two swans become ghosts,
before the sun sweeps them clean.

Watching dippers under the waterfall
I confide in you,
tell you I like your dreams.

Far off, a woodpecker yaffles
as the sky gets heavy
with deepest blue.

Light is falling, soft upon you.
I’m praising dappled things
in the hush of my eyes.

Then we’re sitting by the stream.
Your beat heroic in my arms,
burning contours,

you curl like a fern,
the curve of a wing,
a sleeping star.

Sample Poem

Reviews

"A truly great Welsh thriller. A deceptively mesmerising, easy read that details the history of a troubled land from the late 20th and into the 21st century. The central character is so real. This is modern Wales and the true successor to ‘How Green Was My Valley’. Read it, mourn for what has been lost and marvel at the writer’s insight, but above all, read it." – Katherine John

"A hard-hitting, hard-boiled novel as befits a central character who doesn’t step back from a fight. It takes the pulse of 80s Wales and 90s London, finding the former to be faltering and the latter to be racing quickly in the clubs of Soho and the drinking clinics of the city’s suburbs. It’s a story that fair races along, careering from one violent event to another and as it does so it palps the seedy underbelly of the English capital, even as it shows that love, too, has its place among the sudden flash of knives." – Jon Gower

"The descriptive opening chapter immediately hooks the reader into this contemporary novel. The main character is vividly portrayed, with his blasé approach to death aptly capturing his mindset and morals from the outset. The writer’s use of the Welsh vernacular firmly grounds this story in its setting and adds colour to the writing. An original piece of writing." – United Agents (London)

"Dave Lewis presents us with an unflinching perspective on aspects of life that we may want to turn away from but ought not to. There is a fair amount of social commentary as well. A gripping and well-executed novel in the genre of Dirty Realism, with echoes of TV crime serials like ‘The Sweeney’, ‘Band of Gold’ and the contemporary ‘Vera’. Read this book and learn things you probably didn’t know."
– John Short

Photography

To see a selection of photos from my travels, please visit my portfolio of images by clicking below...

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