Celebrate Dylan Thomas’ Centenary

Literature Wales is inviting children and young people from around the world to take part in Dylan’s Great Poem. Anyone aged 7–25 can enter this international online event to help the Developing Dylan 100 project write an epic, 100-line poem in the spirit of the famous Welsh poet. The finished bilingual (English/Welsh) poem will be broadcast on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru and published online.

Dylan’s Great Poem will be edited by acclaimed Welsh poets Owen Sheers and Mari George. Two-times Wales Book of the Year Award winner and 2012 WRU (Welsh Rugby Union) Artist in Residence, Owen Sheers, will edit Dylan’s Great Poem in English; while Mari George, who has worked as a script writer for the BBC’s Pobol y Cwm and has published her second collection of poetry this year, will edit in Welsh.

www.developingdylan100.co.uk will be open for contributions to Dylan’s Great Poem for 24 hours from 9.00 am GMT on National Poetry Day, Thursday 2 October 2014. The finished poem will be published online on Monday 6 October. Owen Sheers and Mari George will provide updates on their progress editing Dylan’s Great Poem on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #GreatPoem

Owen Sheers says “I’m looking forward to seeing what lines of poetry are submitted, and to how they respond to, distil or pick up from the style, themes and poetic devices of Dylan Thomas’ poetry. The editing itself will be quite a challenge but will, I hope, create an intriguing and unique piece of contemporary writing as a fitting tribute to Thomas’ own inventiveness and love of language.”

Developing Dylan 100 is Literature Wales’ Dylan Thomas-themed educational project, which aims to bring the magic of Dylan Thomas’ words to the children and young people of Wales and beyond, through creative workshops; an international creative writing competition; an online epic poem (Dylan’s Great Poem); and a Dylan Live, a live show of verse, music and hip hop. Developing Dylan 100 is supported by the Welsh Government as an official part of the Dylan Thomas 100 centenary celebrations.

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