James Kitchener Davies

Who was James Kitchener Davies?

James Kitchener Davies, also known as J. Kitchener Davies, was a Welsh poet and playwright who wrote mostly in the Welsh language. Davies's work is highly influenced by the industrial landscape of his adopted village of Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley and his own nationalistic beliefs.

Born and brought up in Llangeitho in Ceredigion, Davies spent his working life in the newly industrialised coalfields of the Rhondda Valley. The sometimes bleak conditions of his early life, especially as his early adulthood coincided with the economic despair of the depression, is reflected in his plays. Davies was part of the Cadwgan Circle, a literary group of likeminded writers from Rhondda, that centred their image of Wales on the new industrialised society they were brought up in. Members of the Circle included Rhydwen Williams, Pennar Davies and Gareth Alban Davies.

His early play Cwm Glo was seen as controversial because it dealt with the social impact of the depression without the cultural romanticism which was stereotypical of Welsh literature.