Robin Llywelyn was born in 1958 in Llanfrothen, Gwynedd, Wales. He studied Welsh and Irish at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and has been the managing director of Portmeirion Ltd., which runs the Italianate village in Wales built by his grandfather, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis.

He is the author of three novels in Welsh: Seren Wen ar Gefndir Gwyn (1992), a fantasy story of three unlikely heroes, and winner of the 1992 National Eisteddfod of Wales prose medal and the Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award; O'r Harbwr Gwag i'r Cefnfor Gwyn (1994), winner of the 1994 Eisteddfod of Wales Prose Medal and BBC Writer of the Year Award; and Un Diwrnod yn yr Eisteddfod (2004), winner of the National Eisteddfod Daniel Owen Prize. He has also written a collection of short stories, Dwr Mawr Llwyd (1993).