1914–1953

Biography

Born in Swansea, Wales, Dylan Thomas fell in love with literature through nursery rhymes. He began writing young and read voraciously – Shakespeare, John Milton, Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Wordsworth, among many others. Drawing from so many literary voices and from the voices of his childhood village, Thomas crafted his unique style of poetry. Characterized by long, lilting sentences filled with lyrical language and dense imagery, his poems feel both familiar and strange. Although he died at the age of 39, his legacy is extensive: his reading tours of the U.S. in the early 50s helped make poetry readings part of popular art, and his recording of his prose piece A Child’s Christmas in Wales is one of the first audiobooks. He remains one of Wales’s most popular and anthologized authors, with the largest literary prize for young writers given annually in his name.

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