Oh dear – I’ve just offended an American!
I stumbled across a blog called the Ten Minute Ramble with some videos of Bob Dylan and just pointed out that he took his name from our own Dylan.
If I did! (more…)
Which way would Dylan have voted?
Dylan had a youthful interest in left wing politics and attended a rally at the old Plaza Cinema (what a place - huge! I remember watching Gandhi – the film! – there in a packed cinema) with his communist grocer friend Bert Trick (strangely our next door neighbour at Number 5 is called Robert Trick although I’m pretty sure that he is not a communist!). The story is that they got ejected.
I don’t know what Dylan would have made of modern elections but I’m sure he would have plenty of comments about candidates strutting their stuff over the past four weeks.
Under 30? Written any published work? Want £30,000?
CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR 2010 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
Third award of world’s biggest literary prize for young writers
Entries are being invited for the world’s biggest literary award for young writers – the £30,000 ($45,000) Dylan Thomas Prize – which will be awarded for the third time in December 2010 to the best published work in the English language by an author under the age of 30 from any country in the world. (more…)
Dylan death sculptor dies
Sculptor Peter Nicholas with the head of Dylan which will form part of a new sculpture in the Uplands by 2014
The announcement today of the death at 95 of David Slivka who sculpted Dylan’s death mask brings to an end another link with the writer.
Both were born on 27th October 1914 and celebrated their 39th birthdays just days before Dylan died in a New York hospital on 9th November 1953.
Four years after Dylan’s death he made five bronze busts. Two are now in America, one in the National Museum of Wales, one in the BBC Headquarters and the fifth in the Dylan Thomas Centre. (more…)
Canadian Writers Journey to Dylan’s Home
Evelyn Hannon (left) of journeywoman.com and welsh Blue Badge guide Bill O''Keefe are among the guests taking afternoon tea at Dylan Thomas Birth House
We recently welcomed a group of Canadian writers to the house and they were amazed by the attention to detail of the conversion.
Among them was Evelyn Hannon who is the webmaster of the hugely successful Journey Woman website. Her travel experience is vast and the website emails thousands of subscribers each week making it one of the largest and most influential in North America. (more…)
Like Dylan we have had a period of inactivity!
Particularly towards the end of his life Dylan Thomas has periods when the words never came. Actually, that’s not strictly true – the words of his poetry didn’t come but his film scripts and his radio work gave him new life – and money!
That is why the Dylan Thomas Prize accepts entries in all the genres that Dylan worked – fiction, short stories, poetry collections, film and media scripts. It was strange then to hear that Tessa Dahl (she’s the one squashed between Roald and Sophie) at the launch of the Prize in Boston on St David’s Day question whether you could differentiate and find a winner. (more…)
First impressions
I first saw inside 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in October 2003 when the house was open to visitors during the Dylan Thomas Festival on the 50th anniversary of his death.
At the time the house was leased to City and County of Swansea. As I walked up to the door I didn’t really know what to expect. The outside had the same drab, down at heel look as it done for many years before. (more…)
To begin at the beginning
Most people we know think that we are mad to attempt to restore 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Uplands,Swansea - the birthplace of Dylan Thomas – to its condition in 1914 when it was bought as a new house by the Thomas family. Dylan Thomas was born in the front bedroom a few months later in October 1914.With this blog we will chronicle our experiences but first of all confess to a little bit of cheating! As Dylan said “…to begin at the beginning…” (more…)
Our Vision
Dylan Thomas is the most famous son of Swansea. A bold claim as there are so many others with claim to the crown but Thomas has a lasting appeal with the legend starting during his own lifetime.
His birthplace – long neglected just as Dylan has been in his home town - is due for restoration and return to its former glory.
