Carys Shannon

Carys Shannon is a Welsh writer and creative coach. She writes Welsh noir fiction about grief, secrets and lost women. Her debut novel, Truth Like Water (2025), was longlisted for the Bath and Mslexia Novel Awards. It was shortlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award.

Carys Shannon was born in the rural area of North Gower in Swansea. She grew up in a tiny hamlet overlooking an estuary, where the library van came once a week. The nearest city felt far away. She said: 'In my world, there were wild ponies, marshes and dangerous rising tides.' Books became magical doorways into other worlds for her.

Shannon studied Drama at Aberystwyth University. After her degree, she started in arts marketing. She then became a theatre producer. For over a decade, she worked with National Theatre Wales. She also worked with Sgript Cymru and Volcano Theatre Company.

In 2013, Shannon wrote and performed I'm Listening — A Case for Empathy. The solo show was based on grief and active listening. Later that year, she moved to Spain. The move was meant to last one year, but turned into more. She has lived and worked between Wales and Spain since then.

In 2017, Shannon completed an MPhil in Writing at the University of South Wales. Her short stories appeared in anthologies by Honno Press and Parthian Books. They also appeared in Mslexia Magazine. She was shortlisted for the 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Award. She was shortlisted for the 2012 Terry Hetherington Award earlier.

Her short story Pwca's Garden was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2023. Shannon received a Literature Wales grant for her first novel.

Shannon began writing Truth Like Water while commuting from Swansea to Cardiff by train. She said: "I used to commute from Swansea to Cardiff every day on the train. Somewhere just after Bridgend, the train passes a long stretch of woods". One day, she thought she saw a body in a ditch. It was actually a doll. That moment gave birth to the novel.

The book took many years to finish. Shannon wrote a first draft during her MPhil. She then worked on it in fits and starts in Spain. During the pandemi,c she rewrote the book completely. In 2020 the first 500 words won the Jericho Writers Festival of Writing Prize. An agent later gave her advice. The agent said, "I don't think this version of the novel is the book you're trying to write".

Shannon rewrote the novel again. She said: "I loved the characters and the estuary too much to let it be anything other than the truest version". That version became the published book.

Truth Like Water follows Catrin, who lives in a small Welsh estuary village. She is mourning the anniversary of her mother's drowning. A teenage girl called Emily vanishes on the same mudflats. Terrified of history repeating itself, Catrin becomes obsessed with finding Emily. Her search uncovers dark secrets from the village's past and present. She discovers truths about her own family, which her parents never wanted revealed.

The novel is set in a fictional version of North Gower. Shannon said her mother died suddenly when she was 22. The loss was traumatic and a complete shock. She said: "The desire to write about grief and what happens when it is suppressed came from there".

Critics described Truth Like Water as an absolute belter of a story. They called it a sublimely written work and Welsh noir at its best. Parthian Books published the novel in October 2025.

Carys Shannon now divides her time between Wales and the Spanish Pyrenees. When not writing, she enjoys slow time in the big nature. She also helps at her local animal shelter.

Photo credit: www.carysshannon.com