Powys, John Cowper, 1872-1963

English novelist, essayist, and lecturer.

John Cowper Powys, born in Derbyshire and educated at Cambridge, was a noted English novelist. His work included novels such as "Wolf Solent" (1929) and "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932), his "Autobiography" (1934), poems, critical essays and lectures. The University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections has a mandate to acquire literary papers.

English writer John Cowper Powys was the eldest of eleven children born to an orthodox Christian minister and a descendent of the poets John Donne and William Cowper; two siblings also became writers. Writing in diverse formats, Powys carved his own niche by inserting fantastic elements into his fiction, which stressed empathy, individuality, and creative energy. He also excelled as a lecturer.

Noted author and lecturer.

John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), English novelist and essayist, best known for his historical novels such as Wolf Solent (1929) and Weymouth Sands (1934). His Autobiography first appeared in 1934.

Welsh lecturer, author and poet.

Author.

English novelist, poet, and critic.

John Cowper Powys, English essayist, novelist and poet, was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, England, on October 8, 1872. He received his education at Sherborne Preparatory School and later at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he earned his degreee in history.

In 1896 and 1899, Powys published two volumes of poetry, Odes and Other Poems and Poems, respectively. Then, for several years he was primarily occupied with lecturing, first for the Oxford and Cambridge Extension, for whom he gave his first American lecture in 1910, and later on his own.

In 1915 his first novel, Wood and Stone, appeared. Two years later, his third volume of poetry, Mandragora, was published in America, followed by Samphire in 1922. From that point on his prolific output of essays, novels and poems continued until 1980, his eighty-eighth year.

John Cowper Powys married Margaret Alice Lyon on April 9, 1898, and they had one child, a son. Powys died June 17, 1963.