International Dylan Thomas Day Date in the current year: May 14, 2024

Dylan Thomas was born on October 27, 1914 in Swansea, Wales. His father David, an English teacher, named his son after Dylan ail Don, a character in the Welsh mythic Mabinogion tales. Thomas left school at age 16 to write for the South Wales Daily Post and became a freelance reporter several years later.

Thomas’s early poems appeared in print while he was still a teenager, but it was the publication of “Light breaks where no sun shines” that caught the attention of three respected British poets, Geoffrey Grigson, T. S. Eliot and Stephen Spender. They contacted Thomas and helped him publish his first collection of poems, 18 Poems, which was critically acclaimed and deemed visionary.

Unlike many poets who only became famous after their deaths, Thomas was popular during his lifetime, although it was still hard for him to earn a living as a writer. He supplemented his income with radio broadcasts and reading tours, which brought him to even wider public attention. The BBC often featured Thomas as an accessible voice of the contemporary literary scene.

Thomas’s fame was cemented by his travels to the United States in the 1950s. Sadly, he fell gravely ill during his fourth trip to North America in the fall of 1953 and died from a severe lung infection exacerbated by his drinking on November 9, 1953.

Dylan Thomas is considered to be one of the most renowned Welsh poets of the 20th century despite the fact that all his works were written in English and that Thomas disliked Welsh nationalism. His best known works include the poems “And death shall have no dominion” and “Do not go gentle into that good night”, and the play Under Milk Wood. Dylan’s poetry inspired many other artists, including The Beatles and Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

International Dylan Thomas Day was launched in 2014 by Thomas’s granddaughter Hanna Ellis, who is the creative coordinator for the poet’s literary estate. Its date was chosen to commemorate the day when one of Thomas’s most famous works, Under Milk Wood, had its first stage reading at The Poetry Center in New York City in 1953. Sadly, it was also the year that Thomas died.

International Dylan Thomas Day gives poetry lovers around the globe a chance to celebrate his achievements and his contribution to both Welsh and world literature. Every year, art organizations and groups, cultural centers and schools, and poetry lovers in different corners of the world organize events to honor Thomas’s legacy. They include poetry readings, poetry and photo competitions, book presentations, performances, literary pub crawls, and more.

You can join the celebration by attending one of these events or staging an event of your own, learning more about the life and work of Dylan Thomas, buying a book of his poems, taking a trip to a location associated with Dylan Thomas, and spreading the word on social media with the hashtags #InternationalDylanThomasDay, #DylanThomasDay and #DylanDay.