Swansea included on inspirational world literature map

Swansea’s links with Dylan Thomas mean the city is now featured on an interactive world map that highlights locations to have inspired iconic literature.

Cwmdonkin Park, Swansea beach and the former Three Lamps pub on Castle Square are among the locations included.

An American company called Placing Literature is behind the online map. Since its launch in 2013, readers, educators, librarians and authors have mapped more than 3,000 places across the world from novels, short stories, poems and plays. Locations to have inspired other authors including Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are also included.

Swansea Council staff based at the Dylan Thomas Centre worked with Placing Literature on the Swansea information and locations now included on the map.

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Enterprise, Development and Regeneration, said: “Dylan Thomas has arguably done more than anyone else in history to put Swansea on the map over the years, so it’s a further boost for the city’s international profile that our most famous son is again being recognized more than 60 years after his death.

“We look at a number of innovative ways to mark and promote our links with Dylan and projects like this help complement our strategy to preserve his legacy and celebrate his genius. Our staff at the Dylan Thomas Centre have done a fantastic job in contributing to the map, which will educate people from across the world on how Swansea inspired the wordsmith, helping attract more virtual and physical visitors to Swansea in future.”

Each place card on the Placing Literature map provides rich content about the poem, the scene and the place where each plot point occurs. In Swansea, people can also learn about Cwmdonkin Drive, Dylan’s birthplace that inspired A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Other locations with place cards include Victoria Park, the Kardomah Café, the Bay View tavern, the promenade, Swansea Castle, Glanbrydan Avenue and the Grove, where Dylan Thomas and his friends recorded the radio broadcast, Swansea and the Arts, in 1949.

On each card, visitors can view a photo of the location, search Google and Wikipedia for more information on the place, purchase the book from a local bookstore, write a review on Goodreads, share the place on social media and even check in, indicating that they’ve been to that particular location.

Have a look at www.placingliterature.com to see the online map.

The inclusion of Swansea has already been sent to literary journalists across the USA. Placing Literature has also blogged about it and shared the Dylan Thomas addition to the map through newsletters and its social media accounts.