(The Library is concerned that today's Reformer mistakenly has my Dylan Thomas reading as "tonight" i.e. Tuesday, and suggested I remind everyone the event is actually tomorrow evening, Weds, Oct 1.)
Guilford’s celebration of the 100th birthday of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas begins Wednesday, October 1 at Guilford Free Library. I will give a reading and talk, “Poems in October,” at the Library at 6:30 p.m.
Thomas, born October 27, 1914, was one of the great lyric poets of the 20th century, and is unusual in that he was known to a wider audience than most poets. He was particularly prominent in the United States due to several reading tours in the final three years of his short life. In fact, he died, at age 39, in New York City. His masterpiece, the play Under Milk Wood was first presented there, months before his death. Among the many American colleges and universities where he toured was Bennington College in Vermont.
The poet was known for the power and musicality of his readings, which are really like performances, and he achieved much of his popularity through a series of recordings of his work during the early Lp era.
The October 1 talk will give a quick overview of the poet’s life, and readings from Thomas’s prose, poetry and letters. The poems include the one which gives the evening its title, “Poem in October,” the autobiographical “Fern Hill,” and other favorites. The evening also includes the narrative “Reminiscences of Childhood,” and a short essay from one of his BBC broadcasts on the nature of poetry.
I'll also have comments on Thomas’s play for voices, Under Milk Wood, as an introduction to the performance of this work as the second part of this fall’s centenary series in Guilford. That reading, by the Packer Corners Players, will take place October 25 at Broad Brook Grange. The series will conclude when I read Dylan Thomas’s well-known story, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” as part of Friends of Music at Guilford’s Christmas at Christ Church in December.
Admission to the October 1 event is free. For information, contact the Library at 802-257-4603
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