Mari Griffith

Brought up in South Wales and a fluent Welsh-speaker, Mari Griffith began her career as a singer before moving into radio and television as a presenter of many different types of programmes for children, for adults and for the BBC Television Schools Service. Then a career change saw her take up a staff appointment with BBC Wales as a bi-lingual continuity announcer. Two years later, after an intensive training course, she became a multi-camera television director, again working on a variety of programmes. Now retired from broadcasting, Mari at last has time to concentrate on something she has always loved - writing. Short stories brought initial success, one is included in the Historical Novel Society's 2012 anthology 'The Beggar at the Gate', while another was a prize-winner in the competition associated with the HNS 2014 conference. Her debut novel 'Root of the Tudor Rose' tells the little-known story of the astonishing love affair which founded the Tudor dynasty. The book met with considerable critical acclaim, became an Amazon best-seller and remained high in the charts for well over a year. Mari's eagerly-awaited second novel, 'The Witch of Eye', is not strictly a sequel to the first book though it takes up the story of the scheming Duchess of Gloucester, a story of intrigue, passion and ambition which culminated in the most sensational treason trial of the fifteenth century. Again published by Accent Press, it was chosen as the Welsh Books Council's 'Book of the Month' for July - the month of publication - and is now available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions.