DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 27 October - 9 November 2012
WELCOME “O may my heart’s truth / Still be sung / On this high hill in a year’s turning”, wrote Dylan Thomas in ‘Poem in October’. Dylan sang in many different forms, and our festival celebrates this in the variety of genres we present throughout the fortnight, from short fiction to music, and from sports writing to poetry. Enjoy!
Jo Furber, Literature Officer
BOX OFFICE: 01792 463980
Saturday 27 October, 2.30pm – 4.30pm
POETRY WORKSHOP WITH SAMANTHA WYNNE-RHYDDERCH The rhymer in the long tongued room: celebrate Dylan’s 98th birthday with a workshop on writing long poems with acclaimed poet, Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch. Limited to ten places. TICKETS: F £10 C £7
Online booking is available: www.ticketsource.co.uk/ dylanthomas F Full Price C Concessions PTL
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Passport To Leisure Dylan Thomas Festival 2012
Saturday 27 October, 7.30pm
Sunday 28 October, 2pm
STAN TRACEY QUARTET A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS JAZZ SUITE
HEARTS OF OAK BY LIZ WRIDE
Inspired by Dylan Thomas’ short story, jazz legend Stan Tracey’s new suite is performed by his current quartet plus his grandson, Ben, as narrator. Like Stan’s landmark Under Milk Wood Suite, this joyous piece reflects Stan’s love of Dylan’s work, and the ways in which it continues to inspire him. TICKETS: from £25 to £10
www.dylanthomas.com/festival
Based on a true story, Swansea playwright Liz Wride’s Hearts of Oak is a story of turmoil, love and hatred set in The Smalls Lighthouse off the south west coast of Wales. In 1780, two men are marooned on the lighthouse with nothing for company but their mutual dislike. Haunted by the memories of those they knew on-shore, they begin to question if they will ever leave the lighthouse alive. This premiere professional performance will be presented script-in-hand and directed by acclaimed playwright D.J. Britton. TICKETS: F £6 C £4.20 PTL £2.40 3
Tuesday 30 October, 7.30pm
ROSHI FERNANDO AND KEVIN BARRY IN CONVERSATION WITH JON GOWER
Kevin Barry
We celebrate the short story with Impress prize winner Roshi Fernando, whose stunning collection of interlinked stories, Homesick, follows a community of Sri Lankan immigrants in London. Sunday Times short story award winner Kevin Barry has been described by Irvine Welsh as “ the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands for years.” Dark Lies the Island tells Roshi stories about love and Fernando cruelty, crimes, desperation and hope. They will be in conversation with the multi-talented Jon Gower. TICKETS: F £6
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C £4.20
PTL
£2.40
Dylan Thomas Festival 2012
Brenda Chamberlain
Menna Elfyn
Wednesday 31 October, 7.30pm
Thursday 1 November, 7pm
BRENDA CHAMBERLAIN MENNA ELFYN CENTENARY EVENT LAUNCHES MURMUR WITH NEW WELSH REVIEW, Menna Elfyn is the best-known, most travelled and most translated of all PARTHIAN AND FLUELLEN Welsh-language poets. The
In the centenary of her birth, Parthian publish fiction and drama by Brenda Chamberlain, along with a biography of her life. Join biographer Jill Piercy and New Welsh Review’s Gwen Davies for an evening celebrating Brenda’s work, her connections with Alun Lewis, Lynette Roberts and Dylan Thomas, and the turbulent life behind it all. Fluellen also present a script-inhand performance of extracts from Chamberlain’s play, The Protagonists. TICKETS: F £6 C £4.20 PTL £2.40 www.dylanthomas.com/festival
extraordinary international range of her subjects, breathtaking inventiveness and generosity of vision place her among Europe’s leading poets, and we’re delighted to launch her latest collection in Welsh and English from Bloodaxe, the first ever Welsh language book to be a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. Menna will be joined by one of her translators, Elin ap Hywel, and introduced by Professor M Wynn Thomas. Free entry and wine 5
Friday 2 November, 9.30am – 5.30pm
THE LONG REVOLUTION IN JAPAN AND WALES: TRANSNATIONAL DIALOGUES ON RAYMOND WILLIAMS A one-day conference arranged by CREW and supported by the Richard Burton Centre. What has the impact of Raymond Williams’ work been in Japan? Are there grounds for comparing the critical, cultural and political histories of Wales and Japan? Is Williams’ voice increasingly important in an age of financial crisis? The third in a series of conferences featuring Welsh and Japanese academics concerning the work of Williams includes papers by established figures such as the eminent translator and academic Yasuo Kawabata, and younger scholars such as Shintaro Kono and Takashi Onuki. It also features contributions from Swansea University’s Dai Smith and Chris Williams. TICKETS: £10, includes tea and coffee
Friday 2 November, 7.30pm
PAUL DURCAN Legendary Irish poet Paul Durcan is on top form in his latest collection, Praise in Which I Live and Move and Have my Being, as he contemplates the fall of the Celtic Tiger, while railing against bankers and ‘bonus boys’. There are poems of love lost and won, and in memory of friends and relatives who have passed on, but there is also joy in the birth of a grandson, and praise, too, for the modest heroism of truckers, air traffic controllers and nurses. Durcan is an electrifying reader of his work – this is an event not to be missed. TICKETS: F £8 C £5
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Dylan Thomas Festival 2012
David Boucher
Keidrych Rhys
Saturday 3 November, 11.30am
Saturday 3 November, 1pm
DAVID BOUCHER THE PRICE OF FAME
LAUNCH OF KEIDRYCH RHYS’ THE VAN POOL WITH CHARLES MUNDYE
Dylan Thomas was adored in America for his outrageousness, although his letters betray a certain bitterness about having to be there. He could even get away with mercilessly mocking his audience for being seduced by the allure of fame. In this talk, David Boucher explores how the negative side of fame not only tortured Dylan Thomas, but also obsessed some of his great admirers such as Rexroth, Corso, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Bukowski, Cohen and Bob Dylan. ALL TICKETS: £4 www.dylanthomas.com/festival
Keidrych Rhys counted Dylan Thomas, Glyn Jones, Vernon Watkins, Emyr Humphreys, Alun Lewis, RS Thomas among his friends; he was married to Lynette Roberts, and edited Wales magazine. This book includes Rhys’ own poems, plus Charles Mundye’s notes and biographical context. Free entry and refreshments in association with Seren Books
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Saturday 3 November, 3pm
EDGE HILL PRIZE SHORTLISTED WRITERS EVENT Three of the shortlisted writers from this year’s prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize, A.J. Ashworth, Zoe Lambert and Rowena Macdonald, read from their work and discuss the merits of competitions. Their collections range from Montreal to Manchester, from boy soldiers to doomsday cults, from love to war to grief to brief epiphanies. Prepare to be entertained! TICKETS: F £6 PTL £2.40 C £4.20
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Graham Hunter
Saturday 3 November, 7.30pm
A.J. Ashworth
Zoe Lambert
Rowena Macdonald
GRAHAM HUNTER: SWANSEA CITY AND FC BARCELONA A journalist of international reputation, Graham Hunter covers Spanish football for Sky Sports, the BBC and newspapers and magazines across the world. His access to the Barcelona team is unrivalled and unprecedented. Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World is the inside story of how the best and most loved football team in the world came to redefine how the game is played. He’ll also be discussing the similarities between the philosophies of Barca and Swansea City. TICKETS: F £8 C £5 Dylan Thomas Festival 2012
Sunday 4 November, 11am
MARK DAVIES ‘A LITERARY TOUR OF THE RIVER THAMES’
Sunday 4 November, 1pm
RHIAN EDWARDS ‘ONLY POETRY ALOUD’
From Chaucer’s pilgrims Learn to maximise the live to Tom Brown’s higher reading of your poetry education, via Alice in with John Tripp Award Wonderland, Wind in the Winner 2011-2012 Willows, and Philip Rhian Edwards. Rhian’s Pullman’s Dark Materials, collection, Clueless Dogs (Seren), has just historian, author and been shortlisted for the guide Mark Davies Forward Prize for first book. explores the ways in which the canal and The only requirement of rivers of Oxford feature in the workshop is that you innumerable works of learn an ‘I’ poem off by literature. He will also heart that has been discuss Welsh written by yourself. The connections in Oxford, poem must be at least including reference to its eight lines long and must former resident, Dylan reference yourself, i.e. Thomas. phrases pertaining to ALL TICKETS: £4 ‘I’ and ‘me’. TICKETS: F £10 C £7 www.dylanthomas.com/festival
Sunday 4 November, 2pm
FRIENDS OF THE GLYNN VIVIAN EVENT:
DAVID JONES BETWEEN THE WARS: THE YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENT Renowned expert Derek Shiel introduces a showing of his fascinating film on David Jones, codirected with Adam Alive. Through interviews with scholars, artists, writers and friends, and images of his carvings, engravings, sketches and paintings, it demonstrates Jones’ development as a painter, engraver and poet. TICKETS: F £6 C £4.20
PTL
£2.40
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Wednesday 7 November, 7.30pm
ROS BARBER AND SAMANTHA WYNNE-RHYDDERCH READ FROM THEIR WORK Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch’s acclaimed third collection, Banjo (Picador), commemorates the arrival of Captain Scott at the South Pole in 1912, exploring the way in which music and theatre enabled the icebound communities to survive. Ros Barber’s The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre) is an extraordinary novel in verse, telling Christopher Marlowe’s alternative story, in which he is exiled to France and writes plays and poetry under the name William Shakespeare.
Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch
Tuesday 6 November, 7pm
STUFF HAPPENS We join forces with The Crunch spoken word night to present a laid back and inspiring evening of poetry, art and sparkling conversation. Find out more at www.facebook.com/ dylanthomasfestival Free
TICKETS: F £6 PTL £2.40 C £4.20
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Ros Barber
Dylan Thomas Festival 2012
Nigel Jenkins
Fernhill
Thursday 8 November, 7pm
Friday 9 November, 7.30pm
NIGEL JENKINS LAUNCHES REAL SWANSEA 2
FERNHILL
Real Swansea 2 is a further look at his hometown by poet Nigel Jenkins with characteristic insight, humour and an eye for the odd and unusual. From Dylan Thomas’ Kardomah and the Grand Theatre to brothels and Salubrious Passage, Swansea is celebrated in stylish prose and pinsharp poetry. Nigel will be in conversation with Real series editor, Peter Finch. Free entry and wine in association with Seren Books. www.dylanthomas.com/festival
Fernhill is regarded internationally as one of Wales’ finest folk groups. Singer Julie Murphy’s fans include Robert Plant and Danny Thompson, both of whom have recorded with her. She is joined by Ceri Rhys Matthews, Tomos Williams and Christine Cooper, as they present material from their latest album, Canu Rhydd (literally, ‘free poetry’) which has been featured by Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens, and Radio 3’s Late Junction. TICKETS: F £8
C £5.50
PTL
£3
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EXHIBITION 30813-12 DESIGNPRINT
We launch our partnership with the National Library of Wales by displaying a selection of of Dylan Thomas’ personal items from their holdings, as part of NLW’s outreach programme. PHILIP GROSS
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Castle Square Sgwâr y Castell
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DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE
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SOMERSET PLACE, SWANSEA SA1 1RR 01792 463980 www.dylanthomas.com
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Supported by:
Amgueddfa National Genedlaethol Waterfront y Glannau Museum
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the details of this programme are accurate, the City & County of Swansea reserve the right to alter any part of the programme without notice. Photo credits: Stan Tracey by William Ellis, Paul Durcan by Mark Condren, Ros Barber by Derek Adams, Menna Elfyn by Bernard Mitchell , Fernhill by Jasmin Hedger, Nigel Jenkins by Branwen Jenkins, Liz Wride by Jess Ramthun.
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Dylan Thomas Festival 2012