Sam Adams is a former editor of Poetry Wales, and a former chairman of the English-language section of Yr Academi Gymreig. He edited the Collected Poems and the Collected Stories of Roland Mathias, is the author of three monographs in the Writers of Wales series and a frequent contributor of poems, criticism and essays to a number of magazines. His 'Letter from Wales' column appears regularly in PN Review (Carcanet). His previous novels include Prichard's Nose, Where the Stream Ran Red, Missed Chances and In the Vale.