A CHRONOLOGY

1914	Dylan Mariais Thomas is born October 27 in Swansea, Wales, the second child of David John Thomas and Florence Hannah Williams.
1925	In September attends Swansea Grammar School where his father is senior English Master and where Thomas meets Daniel Jones for the first time.
1930	Starts his first “notebook poem” in April.
1931	Leaves Grammar School in August to be a reporter for the local South Wales Daily Post.
1933	In May, the London journal New English Weekly publishes “And death shall have no dominion,” and that summer Thomas visits London for the first time. Sunday Referee publishes “That sanity be kept” in September and Thomas begins his correspondence with Pamela Hansford Johnson.
1934	Wins the Book Prize of the “Poet’s Corner” sponsored by Sunday Referee. In October, he and Glyn Jones visit Caradoc Evans in Aberystwyth. Moves to London in November. His first book, 18 Poems (Sunday Referee), is published in December.
1935	Begins a correspondence with Vernon Watkins that leads to their friendship.
1936	Introduced to Caitlin Macnamara by Augustus John in April. In September, Twenty-five Poems (J. M. Dent) is published.
1937	The first of his one hundred forty-seven radio broadcasts airs on the BBC in April. Marries Caitlin Macnamara in Penzance on July 11.
1938	The Thomases move to Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales.
1939	Son Llewelyn Edouard Thomas is born January 30th in Hampshire. The Map of Love (Dent) is published in August. The World I Breathe (New Directions) is published in December.
1940	Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (Dent and New Directions) is published. Leaves Laugharne for the summer. Hired as a script writer by the Strand Film Company.
1942	Moves with Caidin and Llewelyn to live in London.
1943	New Poems (New Directions) is published in February. Daughter Aeronwy Bryn Thomas is born March 3rd in London.
1944	Family moves to New Quay, Cardiganshire, Wales in September.
1945	In the summer the family moves back to London.
1946	Deaths and Entrances (Dent) is published in February. Selected Writings (New Directions) is published in November.
1947	Visits Italy with his family from April through August. Family moves to South Leigh, Oxfordshire, England in September.
1948	Begins writing first of three feature films for Gainsborough Pictures.
1949	Visits Prague as a guest of the Czechoslovakian Government in March. Family moves into the Boat House in Laugharne in May. Also in May, receives first invitation from John Malcolm Brinnin to read in New York City. Son Colm Goran Hart Thomas is born on July 24 at Carmarthen.
1950	Goes on first reading tour of the United States from Febru ary 21 through May 31. Twenty-six poems (Dent and New Directions) is published
1951	Writes a film script in Iran for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company during January.
1952	Brings Caidin along on a second reading tour of the United States from January 20 through May 16. In Country Sleep (New Directions) is published in February. Makes first recording for Caedmon Records in New York City in February. Collected Poems 1934-1952 (Dent) is published in November. His father, D. J. Thomas, dies on December 16 at the age of 76.
1953	Collected Poems 1934–1953 (New Directions) is published in March. His sister, Nancy Mariais Thomas Summersby, dies on April 16 in Bombay, India. April 21 through June 3, travels on third reading tour of the United States. The Doctor and the Devils (Dent) is published in May. Under Milk Wood premieres May 14 at the Poetry Center of the YMHA, New York City, with Thomas directing and reading four of the parts. Also in May, meets with Igor Stravinsky in Boston to discuss plans for their collaboration on a never-to-be-realized opera. Fourth reading tour of the United States begins October 18. Collapses and falls into a coma at the Chelsea Hotel, New York City, on November 5. Dies at St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York City, on November 9. Buried in the graveyard of St. Martin’s Church, Laugharne, on November 24.
1954	Caitlin Thomas moves to Italy and London, living on and off in both places until she moves to Italy permanently in 1957.
1957	Caitlin’s Leftover Life to Kill is published in Great Britain (Putnam) and the United States (Little, Brown).
1958	Thomas’s mother Florence dies at Port Talbot, Wales in July at the age of 76.
1963	Caitlin’s Not Quite Posthumous Letter to My Daughter is published in Great Britain (Putnam) and the United States (Little, Brown).
1994	Caitlin Thomas dies in Catania, Sicily on July 31 at the age of 81.
2000	Llewelyn Thomas dies on November 13 at the age of 61.