The winner of the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize 2020, Hello Friend We Missed You is Richard's debut novel. Richard's previous book is the short fiction collection All The Places We Lived. The subject of the forthcoming documentary ULTRA, covering the book tour for the Serbian translation of All The Places We Lived, Richard lives in Cardiff, Wales with his family. Praise for Hello Friend We Missed You: "I do believe we have found a gem" Sam Jordison, The Guardian "Brisk but surprisingly deep. A witty, irony-rich coming-of-age story." Kirkus Reviews "Above all, it succeeds because of Roberts’s gift for comic timing and dialogue that rings true." Anthony Cummins, Literary Review "This is so, so good. You will no doubt read this book, as I did, with an ever-growing sense of appreciation and admiration for its wit, warmth, rhythm, poetry, and virtuoso display of a writer in complete and audacious command of his material. What is at root a simple boy-meets-girl story is transmuted into something uniquely astonishing through a wild and intrepid imagination. To repeat: this novel is so, soooo good." Niall Griffiths "It's Roberts’ writing that really makes the story something special—a steady pulse of short sections and tightly wrought sentences which develop a rhythm that ripples forward in a wake of momentum, carrying the story forward with a delightful quickness. I’ve become a fan of Welsh writing and Parthian is doing a fine job of bringing books like this into the world. I’m glad this book came my way." Duncan B Barlow, Vol1 Brooklyn "As fiendish as it is funny. Never fails to conjure deep, revealing vignettes about the complexities of grief and what it means to be alive in a world of such unrelenting cosmic injustice." Gemma Pearson, Wales Arts Review "A poignant and emotive reflection on loneliness, guilt, and personal trauma." New Welsh Review "Richard Owain Roberts is a writer of exceptional stylistic talent but one who manages to bring characters and places into vibrant life. This is an undeniably cool book but it also has a great deal of soul. He could be the voice of our generation, I hope people are reading.' Amy Lloyd, One More Lie (Penguin) "Roberts’ writing is evocative and beautiful, varied and expansive, detailed and vague. Place and personhood are both captured wisely and humanely, and – honestly – it was a joy to read." Scott Manley Hadley, Triumph Of The Now "If one of the functions of the novel is to reflect the world around us then HELLO FRIEND WE MISSED YOU is as close as you can get to a perfect piece of art." Rhys Thomas, The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway (Wildfire)