The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas

One of the outstanding literary figures of the twentieth century, the Welsh poet and playwright Dylan Thomas is as famous for his poetry as he is for his dissolute, Bohemian lifestyle and tempestuous personal life. In The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas, journalist Hilly Janes explores the poet’s life and extraordinary legacy through the eyes of her father, the artist Alfred Janes. A member of Thomas’s inner circle, he painted the poet at three key moments: in 1934, 1953, and, posthumously in 1964. Drawing on her own personal archive, including drawings, diaries, letters, and new interviews with Thomas’s friends and descendants, The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas traces the course of the poet’s life, from his birthplace in Swansea to his untimely death in a New York hospital in 1953.

Hilly Janes is an award-winning writer and editor who has worked for many national newspapers and magazines including the Times, Guardian, Observer, Independent, and Prospect magazine.