Dylan Day
Next: May 14, 2027
Read a poem out loud.
The story
Where it comes from
Dylan Day celebrates the life and work of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, born in Swansea in 1914. It falls on 14 May because on that date in 1953 Under Milk Wood, his 'play for voices', was first performed on stage with a cast, at the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center in New York. Thomas died in New York that November. The day was announced in December 2014 by his granddaughter, Hannah Ellis, as a legacy of the Dylan Thomas 100 festival, and was first held on 14 May 2015.
How it's celebrated
Literature Wales, which set up the day with the Welsh Government's support, shares events and resources for schools, and there are readings, performances, tours and family workshops in Swansea, London, New York and beyond. People share their own readings online with #DylanDay. It is a good day to read a poem aloud, perhaps 'Do not go gentle into that good night'.
Did you know
- On the first Dylan Day, Swansea University put on show a 'lost' notebook of his early poems, which had lain forgotten in a drawer for decades and was bought at auction for £104,000.
- Swansea University, in the poet's birthplace, sponsors the International Dylan Thomas Prize.
- The actor Michael Sheen has led a performance of Under Milk Wood recorded on the same New York stage where it was first performed.
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