GUILFORD — October marks the centenary of Welsh author Dylan Thomas, known to an unusually wide audience for a poet, this despite his death at 39.
Guilford will host three commemorative Dylan Thomas events, each sponsored by a different non-profit organization, in October and December.
“Guilford is known for its unique celebrations, such as our year-long 250th town anniversary in 2011,” says Don McLean, who was co-chair of the 250th and is ringleader of the Dylan Thomas celebration.
McLean has been giving public readings of the poet's work since 1965, including many readings of “A Child's Christmas in Wales” on Friends of Music at Guilford's annual holiday program.
“We're used to celebrations of native poets such as Frost and Dickinson,” McLean notes, “but it may seem unusual to be honoring a Welsh writer.”
According to McLean, Thomas enjoyed a special connection with American audiences through a series of reading tours in the final three years of his life. Thomas read at a number of New England colleges, including Bennington.
His masterpiece, the play “Under Milk Wood,” was premiered in New York City, where he died a few months later.
Americans particularly knew Thomas through his recorded readings of his work.
For his Oct. 1 talk, McLean will give a quick overview of the poet's life and read from Thomas' 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 brief essay from one of his BBC broadcasts on the nature of poetry.
McLean will close the evening with comments on Thomas' 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.
On Oct. 25, just two days before the poet's 100th birthday, the long-dormant Packer Corners Players will give their first public reading of the play on the stage at Broad Brook Grange in Guilford Center.
The ensemble gave a private reading of the work in 1968 and several times since. Three of the five original players are still in Guilford. Joining McLean from the 1968 reading are Verandah Porche and Richard Wizansky.
The series concludes Dec. 12 and 13, when McLean closes the celebration with his reading of “A Child's Christmas in Wales,” the strongly autobiographical story long the best known of Thomas' works.
McLean read this story at Friends of Music's first holiday program at Christ Church in 1973 and returns to it often.