Literature Wales / Lleucu Meinir
A bilingual performance tracing Dylan Thomas’ trip to New York through jazz, beat poetry, hip-hop, spoken word and film will be featured at the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature.
Dylan Live, commissioned and produced by Literature Wales with funding from the Welsh Government’s Department of Education and Skills, is a special tribute night celebrating Dylan Thomas’ centenary taking place on Friday 2 May at the Auditorium at The New School.
The PEN World Voices Festival, featuring more than 100 writers from 30 nations, was founded in 2005 by Salman Rushdie as a means to encourage cross-cultural dialogue. A programme of PEN American Center, the Festival promotes meaningful conversation between authors, thought-leaders and New Yorkers on issues central to individual rights and freedoms.
Participants in this year’s Festival include Adonis, Martin Amis, Lydia Davis, A.M. Homes, Ivan Klíma, Shirin Neshat,, Colm Tóibín, and Tracy K. Smit, among many others.
Dylan Thomas visited and stayed in New York City on four occasions between 1950 and 1953. The tribute show explores the time when New York was witnessing a revolution in music and words, with artists such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Alan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and others forging new styles. In 1952 Dylan Thomas was the first poet to record his poetry onto vinyl, which was released in America by Caedmon Records.
Dylan Live is currently touring Wales, and will be at Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff on Tuesday 25 March, Aberystwyth University on Wednesday 26 March and Newport’s Student Union on Thursday 27 March. The show features poets Martin Daws, Zaru Jonson and Aneirin Karadog; award-winning beat-boxer Ed Holden; musician Huw V Williams and lecturer Daniel Williams. American poet Paul Muldoon will join the show as a special guest in New York.
Lleucu Siencyn, Literature Wales’ CEO, says: “Not only is Dylan Live a wonderfully apt tribute to the life and work of Dylan Thomas, it is also a showcase of current Welsh talent. Through the medium of literature, music and film, featured artists have taken their inspiration from one of Wales’s most famous poets, and have created this celebration in the form of a fully modern and entertaining show. Literature Wales is delighted that today’s poets, artists and musicians have been given the opportunity follow Dylan’s footsteps in New York, and to perform at the city’s most prestigious festival.”
Full details are on: www.developingdylan100.co.uk/dylan-live
For more information and to book tickets for the Dylan Live Wales Tour contact Literature Wales on: 029 2047 2266
