Gwen Davies is a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 editor

Editor

The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...

 and translator.

Davies is the youngest of four children in a Welsh-speaking

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 family, she was raised in Otley

Otley

-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Her parents were linguists, her father a a published Welsh-language poet.

Davies' began her first job in 1985 as a writer/editorial assistant on Planet

Planet (magazine)

Planet is a quarterly cultural and political magazine that looks at Wales from an international perspective, and at the world from the standpoint of Wales....

magazine. She later managed the Welsh-language children's publisher, Cymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion

Cymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion

Cymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion was a Welsh publisher, established in 1954, specialising in books of interest to Ceredigion, and Welsh language children's books, including adaptations and original works...

, before becoming Literature Officer of the Arts Council of Wales

Arts Council of Wales

The Arts Council of Wales is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.Established by Royal Charter in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council , when it merged with the three Welsh regional arts associations...

 in 1995.

She was Parthian Books

Parthian Books

Parthian Books is an independent publishers based in Cardigan. It was founded in 1993. Parthian is an editorially-led publishing house, which publishes a range of contemporary fiction, poetry, drama as well as art books...

’ original Fiction Editor, working notable titles including Rachel Trezise

Rachel Trezise

Rachel Trezise is a Welsh author, born in Cwmparc, Rhondda.-Background and career:Trezise studied at the University of Glamorgan in Wales and University of Limerick in Ireland. Her first novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, released in 2002 while she was still as a student, received broad...

’s Fresh Apples, which won the Dylan Thomas Prize

Dylan Thomas Prize

The Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s top cash prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 . It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize...

. Davies was also editor of Alcemi Books, the literary fiction imprint of Y Lolfa

Y Lolfa

Y Lolfa is a Welsh printing and publishing company based in Tal-y-bont, Ceredigion in Mid-Wales. It publishes a wide variety of books in Welsh and English. It also provides a commercial print service. Y Lolfa was established in 1967 by Robat Gruffudd...

. Davies became the new editor of the New Welsh Review

New Welsh Review

-History:Founded in 1988 as successor to The Welsh Review , Dock Leaves, and The Anglo-Welsh Review , New Welsh Review is Wales’s foremost literary magazine in English...

in 2011, bringing a fresh look to the magazine which includes illustrations by Jamie Hamley.

She lives in Aberystwyth with her husband and teenage son and daughter.