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Irma Chilton
Born Mair Elizabeth Irma Evans
12 November 1930
Loughor, Glamorgan, Wales
Died 1990
Occupation Writer
Language English, Welsh
Nationality Welsh
Genre Fiction for children
Spouse Harry Chilton

Irma Chilton (born Mair Elizabeth Irma Evans, 12 November 1930 – 1990), also known as I. M. Chilton, was a Welsh children's writer in the English and Welsh languages. She was a recipient of the Tir na n-Og Award presented by the Welsh Books Council, and of eisteddfod prizes.

Early life and education

Irma Evans was born in Loughor, in Glamorgan, close to the border with Carmarthen. Her parents were Iorworth Evans, a furnaceman, and his wife Esther Jane Muxworthy Evans. She attended the University of Wales, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1951.

Writing

Chilton was a teacher. Chilton's first book, Take Away The Flowers & Fuller's World, combined two science fiction stories about a pilot character named Tom Davies; Heinemann published the volume in 1967. She wrote children's books in both English and Welsh and won eisteddfod prizes for them. They include the novels String of Time (1968, a time-travel story later retitled Nightmare (1972), Goldie (1969, about a "calf-like" space creature who lands on an English farm), The Time Button (1970), Strangers Up the Lane (1971), Rhwng cwsg ac effro (1975), The Magic Cauldron and Other Folktales (1976), A Spray of Leaves (1977), The Witch (1979), The Prize (1983), Y Wobr (1984), and Y Peiriant Amser (1986, about time-traveling children). In 1989, she took the Crown for prose at the National Eisteddfod in Llanrwst, for Mochyn Gwydr [cy].

Personal life and legacy

Irma Evans married chemist Harry Chilton; they had two children, Dafydd and Rhiannon. She died in 1990, aged 59 years. Chilton is commemorated in the name of the Irma Chilton Bursary, an annual memorial prize given to aspiring children's novelists by the Welsh Arts Council. Winners of it have included Jennifer Sullivan.

Her son Dafydd Chilton also wrote fiction for young readers.

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