roundup
WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR THIS MONTH.
BOOK
NOW
Q&A
Known across
South Wales
as ‘The Dylan
Thomas Guy’
Jeff Town
talks to Lauren
Sourbutts about
Dylan’s Mobile
Bookstore.
EDITORS
Great Hall, Cardiff
Sat 9 Nov
Tickets: £20
Info: 029 2078 1400
www.cardiffstudents.com
What was it that sparked your passion for Dylan Thomas’s work?
The first LP I ever bought was Bob Dylan’s, I was a huge fan of his and I
read somewhere that he changed his name to Bob Dylan as a homage to
a Welsh poet. My mother was Welsh and I asked her who Dylan Thomas
was and she told me about a biography about him by Constantine
Fitzgibbon. I read it and was hooked from then.
Why do you think Thomas has such universal appeal?
You can’t separate Dylan Thomas from the myths and legends that have
grown up around him. He was one of the first ‘live-fast, die-young’ heroes. I
think a lot of the stories about him about his drinking, womanising and bad
behaviour have been exaggerated and are possibly apocryphal but there’s no
smoke without fire. It’s those parts of him which attract people. Part of all of
us would like to be eccentric, wild bohemians and live outside the rules but
unfortunately most of us can’t and that’s what draws people to him.
Why did you decide to create Dylan’s Mobile Bookstore?
I had a wonderful big shop in the Dylan Thomas Centre which unfortunately
closed when it changed hands. After the shop closed I came to think I’d
had enough of regular bookshops but I still had lots of books left. I go
to the Laugharne festival every year, and thought ‘wouldn’t it be great to
bring books down here’ and decided the best way to do it was by mobile
bookshop. We took it to the National Eisteddfod in Denbigh and people
loved it – it reminds them of their childhood visits to mobile libraries.
Where will you be taking Dylan’s Mobile Bookstore?
We’ll be at Laugharne for all four festivals next year; we’ll be at the
Dinefwr festival next year and I do book fairs with a wonderfully
eccentric Welsh-language book collector’s association in Bala, Anglesey,
Aberystwyth etc. We’ll also be in the Uplands when the Do Not Go
Gentle Festival is on. Basically, I’ll go wherever I’m invited.
What are your plans for celebrating the Dylan Thomas centenary next year?
Along with the standard things like new performances of Under Milk Wood
there’s going to be some great, rich, different responses to Dylan Thomas
which are going to open the way we look at Thomas and his legacy. I’ve
even got plans for some graffiti exhibitions along with some modern art
responses to his work. They are the sort of areas which are more exciting
to me – after doing it for forty years it’s nice to see people looking at the
work and going in different directions.
Info: www.dylans.com
BUZZ 06
“Part of all
of us would
like to be
eccentric,
wild
bohemians
and live
outside the
rules.”
SEAN LOCK
(second date added)
St David’s Hall, Cardiff
Tues 12 Nov
Tickets: £22.50
Info: 029 2087 8500
www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk
THE REDUCED SHAKESPERE
COMPANY
Royal Welsh College Of
Music And Drama, Cardiff
Tues 12 Nov
Tickets: £15
Info: 029 2039 1391
www.rwcmd.ac.uk
ALICE IN CHAINS
Newport Centre, Newport
Sat 16 Nov
Tickets: £27.50
Info: 01633 656757
www.newport.gov.uk
WALES VS AUSTRALIA: RUGBY
AUTUMN INTERNATIONALS
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Sat 30 Nov
Tickets: £64.77
Info: 0844 8471881
www.millenniumstadium.com
TINIE TEMPAH
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Fri 13 Dec
Tickets: £25
Info: 029 2022 4488
www.motorpointarenacardiff.co.uk
JOOLS HOLLAND & HIS RHYTHM
AND BLUES ORCHESTRA
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Thurs 19 Dec
Tickets: £35.50
Info: 029 2022 4488
www.motorpointarenacardiff.co.uk