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Morgan Llywelyn is an American-Irish author who wrote historical and mythological fiction as well as historical non-fiction. During her writing career, she sold more than 40 million copies and received several awards for her work including being named as the recipient of the 1999 Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year Award from Celtic Women International. She debuted with The Wind from Hastings in 1978 and then had her first big seller with Lions of Ireland in 1980.

Llywelyn was born in New York in 1937 with the name Sally Snyder. She would live in New York until her teens when she moved to the Dallas area. It was here that she found a love of horses and eventually began competing in professional horse shows across the country. By the time she turned 18, she started to work as a model for brands like Neiman Marcus. Her love of horses would career her to working as a horse trainer and instructor, and she later turied out for the 1976 United States Olympic Team in dressage. She just missed the cut and was shortlisted instead.

She would publish an article on horse training and from there her mother encouraged her to continue writing. Her first project was tracing the Llywelyn family history and eventually made a career out of writing historical novels that allowed the exploration of her Celtic roots. Her mother’s side of the family has Welsh roots that go back to Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and Llywelyn the Great. She had a lot of pride in her Welsh connetion and is what lead her to digging into the subject. It would start her career in writing as well and lead to her writing The Winds from Hastings.

Throughout her career, Llyywelyn has been decorated for her writing. She won the Novel of the Year Award from the National League of American Penwomen for her novel, The Horse Goddess. Later in her career, she would be named the Woman of the Year Award from the Irish-American Heritage Committee for Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish that was presented to her by the mayor of New York City.

She would live in the United States for some time, but after the death of her parents and then her husband in 1985, she relocated back to Ireland. She would become a full Irish citizen and make her home in Dublin.

Llywelyn made a switch in her career in 1990 as she began to focus her writing on a younger audience. That work would pay off with Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish that won an Irish Children’s Book Trust Bisto Award in 1991. She would follow that up with Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife that won a Bisto Award in the Historical Fiction category.

The Horse Goddess is one of the earliest hit books from Llywelyn. The book takes place in ancient Greece as Troy is crumbling and Athens is starting to rise. This is the time when mortal men and women become gods and goddess as the news of their escapades is spread across the land. Epona is a woman who life is celebrated as a legend. One day she meets Kazhak, a Scythian warrior prince, and the two end up in a love affair that sends them across Europe to the Alps and the Ukraine. Hot on their tails is Kerununnos, a mysterious Druid priest who is known as the “Shapechanger.” This is a fictionalized version of how the old Celtic Gods became known, and does a godo job introducing Epona the Celtic Goddess of the horse.

One of her books aimed towards a younger audience is Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife. This book is the story of a medieval couple of Aoife, an Irish princess, and Richard de Clare, a Norman knight. The two lead lives that are compatible with the times and their stories are told in alternating chapters in this book. The story is a dramatic retelly of the story of the Norman conquest of Ireland in the 12th century. This story is filled with battles and warfare, but also features a story of love between this unlikely pair. The clash of cultures helps to create a vivid story of one of the Greats of Irish history.

One of Llywelyn best fiction books is Star Dancer. This book follows a tough twelve-year-old who is at the center of all the mischief in his Dublin neighborhood. One day, he sneaks into the Dublin Horse Show and he heads to the post event to cause trouble. That all changes when he sees Suzanne O’Carroll and her horse Star Dancer. He’s mesmerized, not only by her beauty, but by the horse’s dancing. He didn’t know that a horse could do that and he is captivated. He sticks around after the show to talk to Suzanne and learns that her dream is to ride her horse in the Olympics. From this moment, Ger has a new goal: to ride a horse like Star Dancer. HIs pals make fun of him, but he doesn’t care. He’s ready to shrug off his old life and become a different person who is dedicated to horses.

Later in life, Llywelyn would try her hand at science ficiton with Drop by Drop. This book sees a global catastrophe taking place as all of the plastic on earth suddenly liquifies. This makes many technologies fail and causes communications and medical meltdowns throughout the world. Crime is on the rise and unemployment is soaring, it’s bad all around. As all the plastic melts, the citizens of Sycamore River soon find that all the things that they have depended on are now obsolete and if they want to get through this, they’ll have to rely on each other. This is the first book in a trilogy and the story itself is a big departure from some of Llywelyn’s other works.

One Response to “Morgan Llywelyn”

1. Charlie McGee: 1 year ago

   Morgan, I thank God for you and for your inspired writing! Your book “Bard” was my first exposure to your gift, and since I have eagerly searched out all of your writings. I am 69 years old, and only hope to get some more joy from your great gift! If not, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the wonderful hours spent in your glorious worlds!

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