Gwydion Suilebhan

Gwydion Suilebhan (he/him) is a writer, innovator, and arts advocate who serves as both the chief architect and evangelist of the New Play Exchange for the National New Play Network and the Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. A founding member of The Welders—a Helen Hayes Award-winning playwrights collective in Washington, DC—Suilebhan was elected to the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America in 2017. As a writer, Suilebhan’s work has been noted for its “dexterous theatricality and unexpected pleasure” (Washington Post). He is the author of several plays, including The Butcher, Inner Harbor, Reals, Abstract Nude, Let X, The Faithkiller, and the Helen Hayes Award-nominated Transmission. Two of his plays—Abstract Nude and Cracked—have been published by Original Works. Suilebhan’s work has been commissioned, developed, and produced by Centerstage, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Gulfshore Playhouse, Theater J, and Theater Alliance, among many others. He is also the author of Anthem, a short film directed by Hal Hartley, and a forthcoming (2020) web series called All Souls. Earlier in his career, Suilebhan primarily wrote poetry, serving as the poetry editor of Barrelhouse from 2004 to 2006. He speaks widely on various aspects of the intersection between the arts and technology in the 21st century; notable appearances have included South by Southwest, TEDxWDC and TEDxMichigan Avenue, and Americans for the Arts. Suilebhan earned a Master of Arts in poetry from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts in writing from Northwestern University.