Carys Davies writer in residence in Amsterdam

Carys Davies' debut novel West (2018) was nominated for the Rathbones Folio Prize, longlisted for the European Literature Prize, awarded second place in the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize, and won the Wales Book of the Year Award for Fiction. Her second novel, The Mission House (2020) was named Novel of the Year 2020 by The Sunday Times. Her third novel, Clear, was published in spring 2024 to critical acclaim, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by The Guardian, The New York Times, Vogue, and The Washington Post. The Dutch translation, Helder, translated by Nicolette Hoekmeijer, was published in October by publisher Meulenhoff

Davies is also the author of two short story collections, Some New Ambush (2007) and The Redemption of Galen Pike (2014), which won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. She has received the V.S. Pritchett Prize from the Royal Society of Literature, the Olive Cook Short Story Award from the Society of Authors, and a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the Folio Academy.

Born in Wales, Davies lived and worked in New York and Chicago for twelve years and currently resides in Edinburgh.

During her residency, she will be working on and researching her new historical novel, set at sea in the late nineteenth century. She looks forward to delving into records of commercial voyages of Dutch ships, particularly in the Southern Ocean. Water plays a central role in this novel, and according to Davies, it's hard to imagine a better place to be while dreaming about it. Visual art is also a major source of inspiration in her work, and she plans to make use of the city’s rich art collections.