Cynan Jones was born in 1975 near Aberaeron, Wales where he now lives and works.
He is the author of five short novels, The Long Dry, Everything I Found on the Beach, Bird, Blood, Snow, The Dig, and Cove.
He has been longlisted and shortlisted for numerous international prizes and won a Society of Authors Betty Trask Award (2007), a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize (2014), the Wales Book of the Year Fiction Prize (2015) and the BBC National Short Story Award (2017).
His work has been published in more than twenty countries, and short stories have appeared on BBC Radio 4 and in a number of anthologies and publications including Granta Magazine and The New Yorker. He also wrote the screenplay for an episode of the BAFTA-winning crime drama Hinterland, and Three Tales, a collection of stories for children.
The Independent on Sunday declared "There is no doubt that Jones is one of the most talented writers in Britain” and he is frequently acknowledged as one of the most exciting voices of his generation.
His most recent work, Stillicide, is a collection of twelve stories commissioned by BBC Radio 4 that aired over the summer 2019.
This is a well-written short story about a farmer who has decided to push against the modern world by taking things into his own hands. The difficulty I have is that it takes a while to get going, and by the time we wholly realise what's happening the ending becomes rushed. I'm also not keen on stories about rural areas that eschew progress, so this was always going to be a hard sell for me (city boy that I am). But it does deserve your attention and is a worthy addition to the Nightjar chapbook series.