A Child's Christmas in Wales with Kate Tarlow Morgan

Wednesday December 21 st , 6-7 PM, A Listening Hour of Dylan Thomas’ A Child Christmas

in Wales hosted by Kate Tarlow Morgan. Bring a warm drink in your mug, and small snacks

will be served. Donations to MCC Welcome!

Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer who augmented his income with reading

tours and radio broadcasts, such as A Child's Christmas in Wales (1952) and Portrait of the Artist as a

Young Dog (1940). His Under Milk Wood (1953) brought him to the public's attention

as an accessible voice of the literary scene.

I grew up listening to Thomas’ vinyl recordings borrowed from the Donnell Library in midtown

Manhattan, where many a struggling poet read their work. But it was the galvanizing detail for me

that this poet fell to his death on the threshold of the famous White Horse Bar around the corner

from where I grew up. This was a fact that I could not ignore and at 18, made a point of buying my

first “drink” there.

Many of you must have the small, blue chapbook version of Thomas’ “A Child’s Christmas in

Wales.” Steve John told me he has one. Mine was given to me by my mother, not to long before she

died, where she wrote:

For your family—a rich, delicious winter story…

So, to pass along the tradition, I invite anyone interested in “listening” to the gentle, yet booming

voice of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christman is Wales,” for 22 minutes, after which we have time for

reflection, while raising a glass to one of the great poets of the 20 th century.