A boyhood adventure like no other, Dylan Thomas’s recollections of Cwmdonkin Park, Swansea bring to life the period, the environment and the very essence of what it is to have a child’s imagination. 

Edited by Helen Docherty, this picture book combines extracts from Thomas’s work with original illustrations by Thomas Docherty.

Dylan Thomas is one of Wales’s best loved poets and writers. He was born on 27 October 1914 in 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in Uplands, Swansea, the family home where he grew up. As a boy, Dylan spent many happy hours playing in Cwmdonkin Park with his friends, and he wrote about this in Reminiscences of Childhood, originally a radio broadcast. An edited version of this, focusing on Dylan’s memories of the park, forms the main part of this story. The text in the final two pages comes from Return Journey and the poem Should Lanterns Shine.  

The original idea for Dylan’s Park came from Helen Docherty’s dad, Gareth Thomas, who was born and raised in Port Talbot – not so far from the ugly, lovely town that was, and still is, Swansea. All the wonderful words in this book belong to Dylan Thomas. If you visit Cwmdonkin Park today, you will find it full of children playing games and climbing trees, just as Dylan and his friends did a hundred years ago. 

Helen and Thomas Docherty 

Helen and Thomas Docherty, award-winning picture-book authors and illustrator, are married and live in Swansea with their two daughters, who spent a lot of time playing in Cwmdonkin Park when they were
younger. Helen and Thomas’s books have been published all around the world, adapted for the stage and featured on CBeebies Bedtime Stories.

Their books together include The Snatchabook, The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight and Superwolf. Helen and Thomas both love visiting schools and helping children write their own stories and draw their own pictures.