7 Facts About A Child’s Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas
Classified as prose by most, I like to think of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales as a prose poem. The way it switches from one moment to another…
Classified as prose by most, I like to think of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales as a prose poem. The way it switches from one moment to another and the poetic language and images; if it's not a prose poem, it's definitely poetic prose.
This post shares 7 facts about A Child's Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas.
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7 Facts About A Child's Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas
Fact #1: Dylan Thomas recorded "Memories of Christmas" on BBC in 1945.
It was suggested to him by Lorraine Davies who was producer of the Welsh Children's Hour.
Fact #2: Picture Post published an essay titled "Conversation About Christmas" in 1947.
The short story was set up as a conversation between a small boy and Thomas about Christmases of today against Christmases of Thomas' youth.
Fact #3: In 1950, Thomas merged the two pieces for Harper's Bazaar.
Published as "A Child's Memories of a Christmas in Wales," the story earned Thomas $300.
Fact #4: Caedmon Records signed Thomas to launch their record label in 1952.
He was paid an initial $500 fee for the first 1,000 records sold with a 10% royalty afterward.
Fact #5: Thomas suggested "A Child's Christmas in Wales" as the LP's B-side.
The A-side contained five poems. Since Thomas didn't have a copy of the story on him, the 1950 issue of Harper's Bazaar had to be found from which he read.
Fact #6: The United States National Recording Registry credits this recording with launching the audiobook industry in the U.S.
A Child's Christmas in Wales has inspired a song, play, and television film adaptation.
Fact #7: The first book version of A Child's Christmas in Wales was published in 1955.
Thomas died in 1953 at the age of 39 in New York. So it was a posthumous edition.
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of the poetry collection, Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He edits Poet’s Market and Writer’s Market, in addition to writing a free weekly WritersMarket.com newsletter and a poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine.
He is a fan of Dylan Thomas, childhood, and Christmas.
Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
