page_title: Dylan Thomas
section_title: Memorials
hierarchical_section_title: Dylan Thomas / Memorials
caption_attribution_description: Cymraeg: Cerflun Dylan Thomas, Abertawe English: Statue of Dylan Thomas, Swansea
context_page_description: Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion"; the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood; and stories and radio broadcasts such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. He became widely popular in his lifetime and remained so after his premature death at the age of 39 in New York City. By then he had acquired a reputation, which he had encouraged, as a "roistering, drunken and doomed poet".
  Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914. An undistinguished pupil, he left school at 16 to become a journalist for a short time. Many of his works appeared in print while he was still a teenager. In 1934, the publication of "Light breaks where no sun shines" caught the attention of the literary world. While living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara. They married in 1937. In 1938, they settled in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, and brought up their three children.
  Thomas came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, though he found earning a living as a writer difficult.
context_section_description: In Swansea's maritime quarter are the Dylan Thomas Theatre, home of the Swansea Little Theatre of which Thomas was once a member, and the former Guildhall built in 1825 and now occupied by the Dylan Thomas Centre, a literature centre, where exhibitions and lectures are held and setting for the annual Dylan Thomas Festival. Outside the centre stands a bronze statue of Thomas, by John Doubleday. Another monument to Thomas stands in Cwmdonkin Park, one of his favourite childhood haunts, close to his birthplace. The memorial is a small rock in an enclosed garden within the park cut by and inscribed by the late sculptor Ronald Cour  with the closing lines from Fern Hill.
  Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means
  Time held me green and dying
  Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
  Thomas's home in Laugharne, the Boathouse, is a museum run by Carmarthenshire County Council. Thomas's writing shed is also preserved. In 2004, the Dylan Thomas Prize was created in his honour, awarded to the best published writer in English under the age of 30. In 2005, the Dylan Thomas Screenplay Award was established. The prize, administered by the Dylan Thomas Centre, is awarded at the annual Swansea Bay Film Festival. In 1982 a plaque was unveiled in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. The plaque is also inscribed with the last two lines of Fern Hill.
  In 2014, to celebrate the centenary of Thomas's birth, the British Council Wales undertook a year-long programme of cultural and educational works. Highlights included a touring replica of Thomas's work shed, Sir Peter Blake's exhibition of illustrations based on Under Milk Wood and a 36-hour marathon of readings, which included Michael Sheen and Sir Ian McKellen performing Thomas's work. The Royal Patron of The Dylan Thomas 100 Festival was Charles, Prince of Wales, who made a recording of Fern Hill for the event.
caption: Statue of Thomas in Swansea
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