As a nine-year-old boy Griffiths found a second-hand copy of a novel by Rhondda writer Ron Berry in a junk shop.
[5][6][7] Griffith spent several years taking on a number of short term menial jobs before he was accepted into Aberystwyth University to study for a PhD in post-war poetry, but failed to complete the course.
[3][9] A story of addicts and drifters set in Aberystwyth, it explores "life on the disadvantaged and desperate peripheries of society" and quickly drew comparisons with Irvine Welsh.
[8] Griffiths followed up Grits with Sheepshagger, a novel centred on a feral mountain boy named Ianto, which received strong reviews.
In 2009 he wrote Ten Pound Pom, travelling back to Australia for the first time as an adult, comparing his memories spent in the country as a child with his new found experiences.
[3] 2013 saw Griffiths release his seventh novel, A Great Big Shining Star, his aggressive take on celebrity culture and fame.
The Guardian called it "an important novel" and described it as "a profane, passionate response to nature and to the countryside, which is rarely encountered in contemporary British fiction any more".