Hamnet author recalls how Welsh schools nurtured love of storytelling

Nation.Cymru Staff

Award-winning novelist Maggie O’Farrell has said the emphasis placed on arts and culture in Welsh schools played an important role in her journey to becoming a writer.

O’Farrell is best known for her 2020 novel Hamnet, exploring William Shakespeare’s marriage to Agnes Hathaway and the death of their son, which was recently adapted into a film starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

She has also received praise for her other works, including The Hand that First Held Mine, which won a Costa Novel Award, and her three children’s books.

Though born in Coleraine in the north of Ireland and currently living in Edinburgh, O’Farrell spent a portion of her childhood in Bridgend in south Wales.

Speaking to Dot Davies for BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on 4 June 2026, O’Farrell shared more about her Welsh upbringing and the impact it had on her career.

After highlighting her success, Davies noted that several nations can claim to have played a part in O’Farrell’s life. “Can we claim even a little tiny slither of Maggie O’Farrell here in Wales? Can we say you’re even a tiny bit Welsh?” the interviewer asked.

“I don’t know if you can say Welsh, but you can definitely claim more than a slither,” the author replied, before explaining that after moving from Ireland she had her “whole childhood in Bridgend.”

“I went to Oldcastle Primary School. And then I did three years at Brynteg Comprehensive. And then we moved to Scotland when I was about, I don’t know, 13 or 14.”

“That is more than a slither,” Davies remarked, before asking O’Farrell whether she still has connections in Wales.

“I do. One of my closest friends is someone that I was at Oldcastle in Brynteg with,” the author explained.

“In fact, two days ago, I had afternoon tea with her and another girl I was at school with. And we realised it was 40 years since the three of us had all been together.”

After discussing her “surreal” year following the success of Hamnet, including a chance meeting with George Clooney, O’Farrell shared that her latest book, Land, deals with mapping Ireland.

“I think in Wales we get it, that the land speaks to us,” Davies said. “I mean we look at industry in the Valleys and the tragedies that have unfolded at the hands of coal and the coal boards, we get it. It is fair to say that this is your most political novel yet, isn’t it?”

O’Farrell agreed: “I would say so… and I’m sure it might have resonances in Wales because Wales, like Ireland, has this ancient pagan, Celtic culture and folklore.”

Then, citing the recent successes of Irish writers and actors, Davies asked whether O’Farrell sees a similar “moment” for Wales.

“One thing I remember very clearly about my, particularly primary school education in Wales was that there was a huge emphasis on the arts and culture,” O’Farrell responded.

“I didn’t really realise it until I moved elsewhere, I just thought that was what happened at school. But, you know, every morning we were singing hymns for really quite a long time. And we were encouraged to write poems and tell stories, and we had school eisteddfods every year, where everybody was singing and playing instruments.

“I think that’s been a very, very important part of me becoming a writer.”

“The teachers will be proud, I’m sure,” a listener commented while another thanked the “brilliant writer” for her works.

The full interview is available now on BBC Sounds.

Land, by Maggie O’Farrell and published by Tinder Press, is available to purchase now from all good bookshops.