A Child's Christmas in Wales
Dylan Thomas first developed this short piece for radio, and it became a beloved holiday classic. In a few thousand words he gathers up the Christmases of his boyhood into one remembered day, blurring the years so that snow, presents, uncles, aunts, and small-town adventures run together. The language is rich and musical, full of long lists and vivid images, and it reads almost like a poem. Thomas captures the way memory works, mixing the specific with the dreamlike, and he balances comedy with a quiet ache for the past. The piece has been printed in many illustrated editions and is read aloud at Christmas across the English-speaking world. It is brief enough to finish in one sitting and dense enough to reward rereading every year.
What you might want to know about A Child's Christmas in Wales
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A poet recalls the snowy Christmases of his Welsh childhood in a single flowing piece of lyrical prose.
It is prose, but Thomas writes with such rhythm and imagery that it reads like a poem. He originally wrote it for radio broadcast.
It is very short, only a few thousand words, and can be read in a single sitting. Many editions are illustrated to fill out the book.
A Child's Christmas in Wales was written by Dylan Thomas, published in 1953 by Penguin Books, Limited.
A Child's Christmas in Wales is 160 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, A Child's Christmas in Wales takes most readers 2 to 3 hours to finish.
A Child's Christmas in Wales is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
