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John Cowper Powys
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Powys, John Cowper
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Powys, John Cowper
Powys, John Cowper John Cowper Powys, c. 1925.

John Cowper Powys

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Quick Facts
Born:
October 8, 1872, Shirley, Derbyshire, England
Died:
June 17, 1963, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merioneth, Wales (aged 90)
Notable Works:
“A Glastonbury Romance”
“Wolf Solent”
Notable Family Members:
brother T. F. Powys
brother Llewelyn Powys
See all related content

John Cowper Powys (born October 8, 1872, Shirley, Derbyshire, England—died June 17, 1963, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merioneth, Wales) was a Welsh novelist, essayist, and poet, known chiefly for his long panoramic novels, including Wolf Solent (1929), A Glastonbury Romance (1932), and Owen Glendower (1940). He was the brother of the authors T.F. Powys and Llewelyn Powys.

Educated at Sherborne School and the University of Cambridge, Powys was a university extension lecturer for about 40 years, 30 of them in the United States. His works include a striking Autobiography (1934) and books of essays, among them The Meaning of Culture (1930), The Pleasures of Literature (1938), and The Art of Growing Old (1943).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.