We are pleased to offer all 'Do Not Go Gentle' festival ticket holders a 2 for 1 offer on all house visits. A voucher must be collected from DNGG ticket office over the course of the weekend by festival goers and it can be redeemed from that time until 21st January 2017. So there you are, we extend our invitation, now come and visit!
Are you coming to this year's Do Not Go Gentle Festival? They've recently announced another fantastic line up
We'll also have an exclusive offer open to all of this year's festival goers who would like a chance to explore 5 Cwmdonkin Drive...Ooooooh! So book your weekend or day tickets NOW!
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THE apartment at New York's famous Chelsea Hotel where Dylan Thomas fell into a fatal coma before his death has been saved for posterity - following a nine year legal battle.
Developers had planned to refurbish the Manhattan building, which would have affected the layout of Apartment 205, where the writer and poet was staying before his death aged 39 on 9 November, 1953.
The apartment's tenant, Arthur 'Artie' Nash, leased the property twenty years after befriending poet and biographer John Malcolm Brinnin, who had bought Dylan to America.
Mr Nash maintained control of the Thomas apartment, where Dylan spent his last night alive, in spite of successive owner who have sought to evict tenants so the building could be redeveloped as a boutique hotel.
Nash, who alleged strong-arm tactics during the dispute, said "Over the years, I offered to vacate in exchange for written assurances that the Dylan Thomas apartment wouldn't be destroyed like the majority of the Chelsea's historic guest rooms, but all these offers were snubbed by developers. Until now."
Last year, an appeal was launched to help Mr Nash stop the work going ahead, which was supported by Swansea's Geoff Haden, who restored the poet's Swansea birthplace on Cwmdonkin Drive, Uplands.
Mr Haden, who is chairman of the Dylan Thomas Society, said: "Although Mr Nash had a protected tenancy, a series of owners and developers used all means to move him and others out of the building and in doing so would have lost the last piece of history of which the hotel has more than its fair share with Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen among its past residents.
"I'm absolutely delighted that the birthplace and society were able to help raise the awareness and pressure the authorities as well as petitioning the Registry of Historic Buildings in the US and contacting President Barack Obama and other politicians in the United States and this country."
The new owners of the property, BD Hotels, have agreed a deal with Mr Nash to save Apartment 205 with a legally binding agreement.
The agreement was reached through Ira Drukier of BD Hotels, who is a business partner of US actor Robert DeNiro. Mr Drukier agreed to preserve the footprint of the Thomas apartment including the kitchen and private bath. All items not included, such as doors and windows, will form part of a future public exhibition about Hotel Chelsea's history.
A bronze plaque will be permanently placed outside the apartment by Mr Nash, who added: "This is a site where countless Dylan fans have paid homage. After such a long battle I'm thrilled that more of this great writer's heritage will be preserved for future guests of Hotel Chelsea"
When the Chelsea Hotel was built in 1883 it was the tallest building in New York and became known as a haunt of writers and artists including Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, Patti Smith, Eugene O'Neill, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead.
Apartment 511 shares the same balcony as Dylan Thomas Apartment 205 and it was there that Bob Dylan, who took his name from Thomas, spent four days writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.
Apartment 100 was where punk Sid Vicious was alleged to have killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen by stabbing her.
Playwright Arthur Miller got over his break up with Marilyn Monroe in Apartment 614. Dylan met them both on his visits to America.
Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin spent time in Apartment 415, which was immortalised in Cohen's song Chelsea Hotel #2.
And Jack Kerouac wrote his Beat Generation classic "On The Road" at the hotel during a 3 week long drug induced session, while Arthur C Clarke wrote his scifi novel 2001:A Space Odyssey at the hotel
In 2007, a corporate takeover sought to oust tenants and create a boutique hotel. It has since changed hands several times and remains closed to the public.
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The 2nd annual International Dylan Thomas Day or 'Dylan Day' (14th May) supported by Literature Wales draws nearer. There are events scheduled near and far designed to celebrate and create further interest in Wales' most revered writer. Read on for all the relevant links on how you can take part.
Here at his birthplace, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in Swansea we have a very special week running the week of 'Dylan Day.' A host of eclectic events which span the arts spectrum - from poetry, creative writing, painting and performance. These are designed to bring visitors that much closer to the man himself and discover some of the talented people that inhabit Dylan's 'Ugly, Lovely town' today.
Please see our event calendar for all events and ticket information
We have a special reduced rate offer on guided house tours running throughout January & February. Book your tour of the most creative setting in Dylan's life - NOW! - A 'must do' experience for any fan of the great Welsh bard..png)
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Dylan's first book 18 Poems was mentioned in the 'Gossip of the Day' column in the South Wales Evening Post - 'Poetry moves swiftly these days.'.jpg)
All of us at Dylan Thomas Birthplace, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive would like to wish you a very Happy New Year! Thank you for all of your support throughout 2015 it is hugely appreciated, you all help play a vital part in highlighting the importance of this historic house as a place to celebrate, learn and experience. Liking and sharing our page helps spread the word.Here is to seeing more of you passing through the doors of No.5 into Dylan's world in 2016. Cheers!
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Image of Dylan Thomas © Nora Summers / Jeff Towns - Dylans Mobile Bookstore
On this date....30th December
Dylan's parents David John Thomas and Florence Hannah Williams were married at the Castle Street Chapel on Castle Street in Swansea in 1903 in front of three witnesses. The then 26 year old DJ Thomas was boarding in Cromwell Street, Swansea and 21 year old Florence was living at her family home at 29 Delhi Street with several of her siblings..png)
In November 1908 the Castle Street Chapel was deconsecrated and sold for a price of £6,000 to Kardomah Cafe Co.
This then would be immortalised by Dylan in many of his short stories and broadcasts. It was the site of many gatherings by Dylan and his creative circle 'The Kardomah Gang/Boys' as well as being a favourite haunt of his mother and her gossip loving friends.
Sadly the building was razed to the ground during the 3 night blitz on Swansea in February 1941. A new Kardomah opened in Portland Street after the war.
*The wonderful image of Dylan's parents in their younger days is a composition created by Jeff Phillips of Glamscape Art based on two photographs.
74 years ago a fascinating insight into some of the leading British poets was published in 'Lilliput' magazine. The piece was penned by a poet himself, the great Stephen Spender a wonderful poet and champion of up and coming poets. Spender's article also showcased: Cecil Day Lewis, Louis MacNiece, Alun Lewis, Anne Ridler, Laurie Lee, William Empson and of course Dylan Thomas..png)
Spender said of Dylan...
"he is the most strikingly original of the younger poets. His poetry erupts in a torrent of violent, imaginative, sometimes distorted language, drunken with imagery and sound. It suffers from being extremely personal, and often it is as difficult to understand as are other people's dreams. Sometimes the sheer force of an emotion breaks down the barriers of Thomas's world, and his poetry has a far more personal significance. Thomas has also written a volume of short stories entitled 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.' He likes pubs; his world of fantasy is rooted in them and in the coal-mines and mountains of Wales."
The photograph that sat above these paragraphs is one that has become one of the most iconic of those taken of the Welsh poet. Photographer Bill Brandt captured the then 27 year old Dylan in splendid check jacket amidst the surroundings of the beautiful 'Salisbury' pub in Covent Garden.
Amongst the discarded cigarette packets, empty sweet wrappers and manuscripts underneath Dylan's desk here at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive you will find a book that had upset Dylan in December 1934.
Published by Duckworth in late 1934, 'Aspects of Modern Poetry' by Edith Sitwell was savagely critical of New Verse, a periodical ran by poet, novelist and critic Geoffrey Grigson. In her scathing review she used Dylan's poem 'Our Eunoch Dreams,' which had been published in New Verse in April 1934 as one of its bad examples. As an added insult she didn't even mention the author of the piece by name!
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She wrote...
'An appalling affair! Metaphysics have not helped here. The idea is really of no importance, and the thick squelching, cloying, muddy substance of the "which," "itch," "shapes," "starch," "welshing rich" verse, and the equally, or almost equally hideous, "kicks," "sack," "trash," "quick," "cock," "back," "smack," affair - these defeat criticism. In muddiness and incapacity, they leave T.E. Brown's "God wot plot" arrangement at the starting post.'
Dylan wrote the following in a letter dated December 1934 to his friend and fellow writer and poet
Glyn Jones
"So you've been reviewing Edith Sitwell's latest piece of virgin dung, have you? Isn't she a poisonous thing of a woman, lying, concealing, flipping, plagiarising, misquoting, and being as clever a crooked literary publicist as ever. I do hope you pointed out in your review the real points against the book (you did, I know, but I like being dogmatic) The majority of the book was cribbed from Herbert Read and Leavis, actually and criminally cribbed. She has misquoted Hopkins at least twenty times, reprinted many poems without the permission of the publisher or poet. Yes, that was my poem all right, reproduced without my name, misquoted at the end, and absurdly criticised. I duly sent my protest to Gerald Duckworth and he replied to the effect that so many protests of a similar sort had been received, that he could as yet do nothing about it. It is being hoped that he will have to withdraw the book."
In less that a few months Dylan and Sitwell would change their respective tunes about one another. Fierce critic and fellow poet Edith Sitwell would become a patroness and champion of the young poet from Swansea....
81 years ago Dylan was at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive about to travel to London, he was still awaiting the first reviews of his first published collection of poems '18 Poems.' It had been published over 10 days earlier. Seen here on Dylan's desk is a 'true' first edition, first issue, first printing of his life changing book. It had finally come to fruition from many years of meticulous craft and hard work from the surroundings of his tiny bedroom and Father's study and was about to set him on his course as one of the greatest poet's of the twentieth century.
Dylan however, would have to wait until January to read the first of a steady stream of encouraging reviews..
1934 had been a busy year for Dylan Thomas, his work being accepted and published in ‘The New English Weekly,’ ‘Adelphi,’ ‘New Verse,’ ‘John O’London’s Weekly,’ ‘New Stories,’ ‘The Bookman,’ ‘Criterion,’ and the BBC’s ‘Listener.’ One of Dylan’s key admirers and regular publishers was ‘The Sunday Referee.’.jpg)
How the 18 Poems came to be....
The Sunday Referee had launched their 'Poets Corner' feature in April 1933 inviting contributions with the line of 'We care nothing who holds the stylus'. A deluge of poems would flood into the Referee and tasked with selection was literary journalist Victor Neuberg. On September 3rd 1933 he selected Dylan's 'That Sanity Be Kept' and described it as 'the best modernist poem as yet I have received.' On October 29th 1933 he also published Dylan's 'The Force That Through The Green Fuse' and called it 'cosmic in outlook....a large poem, greatly expressed.' Dylan became a staple poet of the Referee in 1934 with a further five poems crafted by the young man from Swansea featuring in the publication.
As a result of the adulation of Dylan's poetry from Neuberg and the editor Mark Goulden it was decided that the young poet from Swansea would have a collection sponsored by the newspaper. Dylan was to be the second in what the Sunday Referee envisioned to be a long line of prize poets. The first was a young lady from the London upper middle classes, Pamela Hansford Johnson. Dylan and Pamela had struck up a correspondence after his poem from 3rd September had been printed.
Publication of the book had been a drawn out affair with the Referee newspaper encountering difficulty finding a commercial publisher for it. Eventually David Archer of the Parton Bookshop, a young man with a love of poetry, who owned a bookshop and occasionally printed books agreed to help. Above all, David Archer had a desire to help young poets succeed. It was finally published on 18th December 1934. 500 copies of the book were produced with only 250 of them being bound at the time of publication. The cost of the book was 2s.6d. The book was published as a joint effort with The Sunday Referee periodical and the Parton Bookshop sharing the printing costs. The Referee provided £30 and the Parton Bookshop £20
*What happened to the other 250 unbound copies of the book? They were bound up and made available on February 21, 1936 and made up the second issue of the book*
18 Poems consists of...
I see the boys of summer
Where once the twilight locks
A process in the weather of the heart
Before I knocked
The force that through the green fuse
My hero bares his nerves
Where once the waters of your face
If I were tickled by the rub of love
Our eunuch dreams
Especially when the October wind
When, like a running grave
From love’s first fever
In the beginning
Light breaks where no sun shines
I fellowed sleep
I dreamed my genesis
My world is pyramid
All all and all
81 years ago this December 'The Year's Poetry 1934: A representative collection compiled by Gerald Gould, John Lehmann & Denys Kilham Roberts' was published by John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd, London.
Seen here residing on Dylan's desk, it has been acknowledged by bibliographers and biographers as being the first occasion where a poem of Dylan's appeared in book form..jpg)
*This however, is if we do not include 'The Second Best' a poem that Dylan, using only his first and middle name (Dylan Marlais) had published in one of his favourite boyhood reads 'The Boy's Own Papers.' It featured in the February 1927 paper but then appeared in the bound 'Boy's Own Annual' of that year.*
The poem in 'The Year's Poetry 1934' was 'Light' or 'Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines.' It was a bold move by the publishers to include it due to the uproar that it had caused when it first appeared in BBC's 'The Listener' magazine earlier in the year due to its imagery with sexual undertones. The poem would also feature in Dylan's first collection of poetry '18 Poems' (Poem 14) which was published on 18th December 1934, just a matter of days later.
We'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, thank you for your continued support this year, keep spreading the word about the 'hidden gem' that is Dylan Thomas Birthplace, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive - You won't know the real Dylan Thomas without a visit!.png)
Image of Dylan Thomas © Nora Summers / Jeff Towns - Dylans Mobile Bookstore
The Brown family from London took in the festive Edwardian atmosphere of the home of 'A Child's Christmas in Wales.' as they toured Dylan's Birthplace on the eve of Christmas Eve. A marvellous bunch bound for a very Merry Christmas!.jpg)
It was wonderful to spend a few hours with Tony & Claire who were on their way back home to Coventry after a short stay in the Gower. Claire is a former student at Swansea University and now they have visited the house of Swansea's most famous son..png)
Here's a snowy Swansea scene from Dylan's youth, reminiscent of his wonderful recollections in 'A Child's Christmas in Wales.'
The photo, which was a postcard of the time, appears to have been taken facing up Bryn Road in Brynmill, just a short hop from the poet's home in Cwmdonkin Drive..png)
Staff at the birthplace of Dylan Thomas, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in the Uplands of Swansea, Wales are hoping to highlight an ongoing struggle to save a legendary New York hotel that is also synonymous with the Welsh bard.
Thomas slipped into a morphine induced coma at apartment 205 at the Hotel Chelsea on November 5th 1953. That event would lead to his untimely death four days later at the age of just 39, robbing the world of one of the 20th century’s greatest literary talents.
The longstanding battle between residents and owners of the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan has been raging for nearly a decade with previous owners looking to oust long term rent stabilised tenants from apartments to convert the property into a boutique hotel. Even though a settlement was met to allow the tenants to remain living at the site, major renovation works are still threatening to change the landscape of the famous landmark forever.
The building which is now in its 132nd year has been home to a who’s who in popular culture from Mark Twain, Arthur Miller, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol to name but a few.
Some of the most iconic works in literature, art and music have been inspired and penned between its four walls.
Curator of the Dylan Thomas Birthplace, Matthew Hughes said ‘Bob Dylan famously penned songs for his album Blonde on Blonde in apartment 211, sadly that room which had remained largely untouched since those days was destroyed in 2008 through illegal renovation work and now it seems that Dylan Thomas’s room is to be next if help can’t be found.’
Geoff Haden, the man responsible for saving the Welsh writer’s home after it was abandoned by Swansea City Council in the early 2000s said ‘"Time is of the essence, the developers of the Hotel Chelsea have told the occupant who leases apartment 205 that they will be blocking the doorway and tearing up parts of the apartment to make way for a maintenance stairwell.”
Arthur Nash, the occupant, has tirelessly fought to preserve the apartment as it was when Dylan stayed there but now seeks further assistance to save not only his home but a piece of literary heritage.
Arthur has been campaigning to save the apartment since 2007 and had met a volunteer tour guide from the Dylan Thomas Birthplace, Phil Pardoe some years ago when Phil was on holiday in New York. Arthur welcomed Phil to take a tour of the preserved apartment and Phil has corresponded with Arthur since then to keep abreast of Arthur and the resident’s plight.
Said Arthur, "This is the site where Thomas last worked, where countless fans have payed homage to an artist who sparked the Bohemian element Hotel Chelsea was renowned for. They could have planned this stairwell elsewhere; it's a punitive strike against the audacity of seeking to preserve heritage in spite of the owner’s wishes."
In closing Mr. Haden said “all assistance that members of the public might lend whether financial assistance or legal assistance is being sought on behalf of this preservation effort and interested parties can get in contact with us at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace.”
A wonderful piece about No.5, Dylan and his Swansea by Gareth Hugh Davies. Please follow this link
