Richard King

Richard King is an acclaimed cultural historian, whose work focuses on the intersections of identity, subculture and place.

His first book, How Soon is Now? (Faber, 2012), was named Sunday Times music book of the year. Original Rockers (Faber, 2015), an examination of the role of a record shop in the social consciousness of Bristol from the 1970s–1990s, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn prize. The Lark Ascending (Faber, 2019), is a history of the relationship between the British landscape and music. It argues that Vaughan Williams’ most popular work shared a similar impulse for communion with nature as the Kinder Scout mass trespass and the 1980s free festival movement. Brittle With Relics (Faber, 2022), is an oral history of Wales 1962–1997, which commences with the twin cataclysms of Aberfan and the drowning of Capel Celyn and concludes with the narrow vote in favour of partial devolution. The book examines the era’s social tensions over Welsh identity; the struggle for the survival and revival of Cymraeg, the Welsh language and the external pressures Wales endured during the era, such as deindustrialisation, which culminated in the 1984–85 Miners’ Strike.

Richard King is a Director-Trustee of Literature Wales, a role that requires a commitment to the idea that literature and literacy are instruments for social justice available to everyone, regardless of their background.
Prior to becoming a full-time author, King worked for almost two decades in the independent music industry. He has lived in Mid Wales since 2002.