Owen Glendower (novel)

Owen Glendower: An Historical Novel by John Cowper Powys was first published in America in January 1941, and in the UK in February 1942. Powys returned to Britain from the United States in 1934, with his lover Phyllis Playter, living first in Dorchester, where he began work on his novel Maiden Castle. However, in July, 1935, they moved to the village of Corwen, Denbighshire, North Wales, historically part of Edeirnion or Edeyrnion, an ancient commote of medieval Wales that was once part of the Kingdom of Powys; it was at Corwen that he completed Maiden Castle (1936). This move to the land of his ancestors led Powys to write Owen Glendower the first of two historical novels set in this region of Wales; the other was Porius (1951). Owen, Powys's ninth novel, reflects "his increasing sense of what he thought of as his bardic heritage."

Powys has used Shakespeare's anglicised version of Owain Glyndŵr's name, "Owen Glendower" for the title of his novel. However, within the novel, he uses Owen Glyn Dŵr (sic) (most often just Owen). He also refers to Glyndŵr as "Owen ap Griffith" or "son of Griffith Fychan" (Welsh: Owain ap Gruffydd)