A Visit from America…Taylor University students seek out the true Dylan Thomas.

In his last few years, Dylan entertained hundreds of American students on his great but gruelling reading tours of America. He famously wrote a humorous piece on his experiences of the USA tours called  A Visit to America.

Due to his popularity and legacy, we at his Birthplace are too, becoming very used to hosting travelling American college and university groups.

One such group was the one which consisted of students and faculty members from Taylor University, Indiana, USA whom we had the pleasure of hosting recently.


The group from the English department, are currently on an off campus study tour which combines reading of major British authors (Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginia Woolf, and others) and extensive sightseeing. Most of the trip is spent in London, with the class also travelling to other locations of literary significance. In this case they have chosen to look at Dylan Thomas and his Ugly, lovely town of Swansea.

The collection of culture vultures (as Dylan would term them) naturally acknowledged the importance of 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, the house of his birth and where a near two-thirds of the writer’s incredible works were painstakingly crafted from the snug confines of his tiny bedroom.

We wish them well on their travels and urge them, do not go gentle when exploring the works of Wales’ most renowned writer but to dive in head first!
