The Dylan Thomas Centre is an arts centre located in the Maritime Quarter in Swansea, Wales.
Formerly the city's Guildhall, which was originally built in 1825, the Dylan Thomas Centre was restored and refurbished to host the UK Year of Literature and Writing in 1995.
It was opened in 1995 by American ex-President Jimmy Carter, and has a permanent exhibition on the life and work of Dylan Thomas, as well as a restaurant and bar, a bookshop cafe, conference rooms and a theatre.
The centre houses the permanent ‘Man and Myth’ exhibition, based on the largest collection of memorabilia of its kind in the world. It is designed to appeal to the Dylan expert and interested visitor alike. This interactive exhibition explores Dylan’s life and work through a variety of media and includes letters, books, worksheets and photographs.
The Dylan Thomas Centre is home to a year-round programme of literary events, including book launches, plays, poetry evenings, changing exhibitions and science talks. It hosts the annual Dylan Thomas Festival held between Dylan’s birth and death dates, 27 October to 9 November.
The Dylan Thomas Centre’s staff also provide a variety of talks and tours, such as talks on aspects of Dylan’s life and works, on contemporary literature, on writing poetry and on cultural tourism.
In 2012 a large part of the centre was leased by Swansea's council to the University of Wales with the prurpose of using it as a business centre for creative industries. This move was opposed by more than 200 writers and artists, including writer Russell T. Davies and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who believed the centre should be run as a trust.
Famous quotes containing the words dylan thomas, dylan, thomas and/or centre:
“Shall I still be love’s house on the widdershin earth,
Woe to the windy masons at my shelter?
Love’s house, they answer, and the tower death
Lie all unknowing of the grave sin-eater.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.”
—Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (b. 1941)
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“To make our idea of morality centre on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)