An ugly, lovely prize

The BBC report that a new literary award worth £60,000 is to be launched in Swansea (Wales) this autumn. That is a serious amount of folding. The award is to be known as the “Swansea Dylan Thomas Prize”, and will go every other year to the best book – of any stripe – written in English, anywhere in the world.

Dylan Thomas is of course the famous poet who did a lot to put Swansea on the map. I went to Swansea University for four years and, let me tell you, the guy’s name is everywhere down there. Some friends of mine rented the house in Cwmdonkin Drive where Thomas grew up, which gave them a lot to “talk about” in the pubs and clubs of that fine city (ie: “Fancy coming back to mine to see Dylan Thomas’ bedroom? It’s really inspiring…”)

Oh, there’s a catch – you have to be under 30 to qualify. (I’m talking about the prize again here. I don’t think there was ever any age limit on the bedroom invitations.)