ON WORLD Book Day, we thought we'd remind you of the wealth of writing talent here with 10 great Gwent novels.
1. The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen
With fans as diverse as horror writer Stephen King and Oscar-nominated film director Guillermo Del Toro, Caerleon's Arthur Machen found fame from the 1890s with his supernatural works like The Great God Pan.
2. Last Letters from Hav - Jan Morris
One of the UK's greatest travel writers, Jan Morris hails from Llanthony in Monmouthshire. Her novel Last Letters from Hav was shortlisted for the 1985 Booker Prize.
As a reporter for The Times, she accompanied the Mount Everest expedition in 1953 and reported Hillary and Tensing's success in scaling the summit.
3. Rape of the Fair Country - Alexander Cordell
Rape of the Fair Country was published in 1959 and portrays early industrial Wales incorporating events like the birth of trade unionism and rise of the Chartist movement and the Newport Rising.
4. The Kissing Booth - Beth Reeks
NEWPORT teen author Beth Reeks was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists Association Awards for teen romance The Kissing Booth. Beth wrote the romance novel as part of a three-book deal when she was just 17.
5. The Virgin Soldiers - Leslie Thomas
Maesglas-born Leslie Thomas found fame with his novel inspired by his experiences as a national serviceman fighting in Malaya in the 1950s.
He became a reporter after leaving the army and published the The Virgin Soldiers in 1966. He since became one of Britain's most prolific authors.
6. The Coroner - MR Hall
Monmouth author and former criminal barrister Matthew Hall's debut novel, The Coroner, was published by Pan Macmillan in the UK in 2009 and was nominated for the Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger in the best novel category. He also worked as a screenwriter for TV's Kavanagh QC starring John Thaw.
7. East of The Sun - Julia Gregson
MONMOUTH author Julia Gregson, 63, has interviewed Mick Jagger, worked as a foreign correspondent and a cowgirl in the Australian outback, and has won the Le Prince Maurice Prize for literary love stories for her second novel East of The Sun.
8. The Bethlehem Murders - Matt Beynon Rees
NEWPORT-born journalist Matt Beynon Rees worked in the Middle East for more than a decade is now an award-winning crime novelist.
He has won awards for his Omas Yussef series which follows a Palestinian detective and is now published in 23 countries. His first crime novel, The Bethlehem Murders, was published in 2007 and won the prestigious Crime Writers Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger in 2008.
9. Resistance - Owen Sheers
Abergavenny writer Owen Sheers published his debut novel Resistance in 2008. Depicting Britain under Nazi occupation after the failure of D-Day, it was praised by readers and critics alike when it came out. Resistance won the 2008 Hospital Club Creative Award and was also short-listed for the Writers Guild Best Book Award, and is available in ten languages. The film of the novel, which Sheers co-wrote, was released in autumn 2011 and starred Andrea Riseborough.
10. Incarceron - Catherine Fisher
Incarceron is a young-adult fantasy and science fiction novel written by Newport writer Catherine Fisher. It is the first in a line of novels centered on Finn and Claudia, two adolescents imprisoned by the Warden of Incarceron. It appeared on the New York Times children's bestseller list in 2010.
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