Background
Stephens was born in 1938 in the village of Treforest, near Pontypridd, in Glamorgan.
Stephens was born in 1938 in the village of Treforest, near Pontypridd, in Glamorgan.
He studied at Aberystwyth University and Bangor University, and at the University of Rennes in Brittany.
Foreign the singer, see Meic Stevens. From 1962 to 1966 he taught French at Ebbw Vale in Monmouthshire. In Merthyr Tydfil he established the Triskel Press and in 1965 he began the periodical, Poetry Wales.
From 1967 until 1990 Stephens was literature director of the Welsh Arts Council.
Before retiring he was professor of Welsh Writing in English at the University of Glamorgan. He was also a visiting professor in the English department of Brigham Young University, Utah, United States. He has written many articles about literature in Wales for the newspaper, the Western Mail, and obituaries of eminent Welsh people for The Independent newspaper.
He is the father of radio presenter Huw Stephens.
(Welsh Names for Your Children, the most comprehensive gui...)
He learnt Welsh as an adult, and became a member of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg and of Plaid Cymru.