Under Milk Wood and Llareggub Explained Through Dylan’s Words

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00October 16th, 2017|Uncategorized|

This is my final blog showcasing letters from Dylan Thomas’s Collected Letters, which are now available in two paperback volumes. This letter from October 1951 was written to Princess Marguerite Caetani explaining the enclosed manuscript ‘Llareggub. A Piece for Radio Perhaps’ that eventually became his play-for-voices, Under Milk Wood. Princess Caetani was a cultured and modern woman [...]

From Cheltenham to Mariposa: A wander along the road to Llareggub. Guest blog by David N Thomas.

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00October 9th, 2017|Guest Blog|

  Not so long ago, I had an email from Dai Cwc, who’d been at school with me in Port Talbot. He’d been reading my last blog on the Majoliers, Caitlin’s literary rellies. “How come you got to kiss Liz Taylor in the Aberavon club house?” “You remember my uncle Arth?” I asked. “He was [...]

Letters from Tehran: ‘Horrible oil-men sit in posh Guest-Houses while children from the mud-hut villages are three quarter naked, filthy and hungry’.

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00October 2nd, 2017|Uncategorized|

As part of my ‘Month of Letters’ blogs to mark the re-release of Dylan Thomas’s Collected Letters in two paperback volumes, here are two more letters. They were written to Dylan’s wife Caitlin Thomas in January 1951 while Dylan was in Persia on a filmmaking trip for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. I’ve chosen these particular letters because [...]

Dylan Thomas The Collected Letters: My Personal Favourites

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00September 25th, 2017|Uncategorized|

As part of my ‘Month of Letters’ blogs to mark the re-release of Dylan Thomas’s Collected Letters in two paperback volumes, here are two more letters that particularly interest me. They also, appropriately, seem to link well with another event this week, National Poetry Day. This year’s theme is Freedom. Below are two short letters to Vernon [...]

Dylan Thomas The Collected Letters: My Personal Favourites

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00September 17th, 2017|Uncategorized|

In celebration of the re-release of Dylan Thomas's Collected Letters in two paperback volumes, I am going to choose a few of my favourite letters and upload them to this blog over the next few weeks.  Many thanks to the team at Orion for giving permission for this and allowing a sneak preview of some [...]

Life After Dylan: How the family was disempowered

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00August 14th, 2017|Uncategorized|

  In last week’s blog, I explored the chain reaction of events that led to Dylan Thomas developing the one-sided and superficial image of being a randy letch and outrageous drunk. I would like to follow on from that and consider other fallouts that resulted from him dying young and being famous.   In particular, how [...]

Why I Feel Like a Lizard in a Family of Polar Bears

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00June 26th, 2017|Uncategorized|

“Feet up with cup of tea BUT it is bloody hot.” This was a text from my dad last Tuesday and I have had similar moans and groans from: my husband, my son, on the school run – there was even a grumble fest about the warm weather on Radio 5’s Your Call. I have [...]

“I’m Just a Voice on Wheels”: Did the expectations to be the ‘great poet’ lead to the early death of Dylan Thomas?

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00June 12th, 2017|Uncategorized|

In a follow up to my blog - Like Eggs Laid By Tigers: How Dylan Thomas's Language Filled Early Years Shaped his Poetry - below is a biography of Dylan's later life from 1939 until his death in November 1953. Dylan Thomas’s life – 1939-1953 By 1939, Dylan had become a father for the first time and [...]

Llansteffan Literary Festival: A weekend to remember!

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00June 4th, 2017|Uncategorized|

From Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th June, the breathtakingly beautiful village of Llansteffan in Carmarthenshire, West Wales will open its doors to excited festival goers from far and wide. The writer and publisher Richard Davies has recently moved to the area and is encouraging lovers of words to come and discover the hidden literary secrets [...]

“I never thought them to be imitations but rather wonderfully original things, like eggs laid by tigers”: How Dylan Thomas’s language filled early years shaped his poetry.

By |2020-04-08T12:16:51+01:00May 29th, 2017|Uncategorized|

I was recently asked by one of Dylan Thomas’s literary agents to provide her with a Dylan Thomas biography that she could share with organisations and individuals that were interested in performing Dylan’s work. Below is my first attempt at condensing the first twenty-five years of his life (the second part is next week) which [...]