The Last Day - Owain Owain

The Last Day by Owain Owain, translated by Emyr Wallace Humphreys / 136-page paperback published by Parthian Books / ISBN 9781914595806 *** With science fiction tropes recalling Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut and more recently Olga Ravn's The Employees, philosophical reflections in the vein of Dostoyevsky's Notes From the Underground, and its postmodern form, The Last Day is a testament to the depth and creativity of Welsh literature. Its translation into English is long overdue. Owain Owain (1929 - 1993) was a writer, physicist and language activist. He founded Tafod Y Ddraig, the Welsh Language Society newspaper which remains a cornerstone of Welsh-language activism, as well as the ubiquitous 'Dragon's Tongue' logo. A prolific and eclectic writer, his biography Mical (1976, Gwasg Gomer) won Literature Wales's Book of the Year award. His novel Y Dydd Olaf (The Last Day) was the inspiration for musical artist Gwenno Saunders' 2014 album of the same name. Emyr Wallace Humphreys translates from Welsh and Portuguese to English, and from English to Welsh. A graduate of the MA programme in Translation Studies at University College London, he has had literary translations published in journals such as The White Review, Your Impossible Voice and Joyland Magazine. In 2022 he was awarded a bursary to attend the Bristol Translates literary translation summer school and is a Visible Communities mentee for the National Centre for Writing's 2022-2023 Emerging Translator Mentorship programme.