Meic Stephens, who passed away this week, made a huge and vital contribution to the development of the University of Wales Press as both an author and an editor. Along with R. Brinley Jones, he established the pioneering series ‘Writers of Wales’ in 1970, which he edited for over forty years – a period that saw publication of more than a hundred volumes. Among the enormous number of works that he wrote or edited himself, one of the most important is the Cydymaith i Lenyddiaeth Cymru, which was published by UWP in 1986, with the English version – The New Companion to the Literature of Wales – appearing in 1998. This masterwork continues to be an essential reference volume for researchers and readers interested in the two literatures of Wales. Meic also published collections of quotations, poetry anthologies and edited volumes on Welsh writers for UWP, all of which demonstrated his deep understanding and expansive knowledge of the history and literatures of Wales.
