The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has agreed to become an Honorary Vice President of the Dylan Thomas Society as it heads towards the centenary of the writers birth in 2014.

The invitation was accepted during an meeting between Archbishop Rowan and the vice chairman of the Society Geoff Haden in which they recorded an interview on Dylan Thomas to feature in an archive at the poets birthplace at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in Swansea.

The interview, which took place at Lambeth Palace, covered the influence that Dylan Thomas had on Archbishop Rowan who, like Dylan, was born and brought up in Swansea and is a published poet observed I think all of us who were interested in literature at school in Swansea of that generation fancied ourselves as the Dylan Thomas of the next generation and were very much influenced by the superficial style and tried to copy it.

Geoff Haden found that Like Dylan Rowan Williams has a deep affinity with Swansea as it is a place that draws one back.

The interview was part of a project, 100 Voices, to produce one hundred interviews of people who met or were influenced by Dylan over the past one hundred years.

The project is well on its way and meeting people of all walks of life has been fascinating and range from the maid who worked for the Thomas family when Dylan was a teenager to President Jimmy Carter who has been a lifelong fan.

Said Society chairman Jeff Towns We already have Dylans granddaughter Hannah Ellis as our active President and I am delighted that the Archbishop has accepted our invitation as we approach 2014.

The Archbishop saw the centenary as an important milestone and said The best way of celebrating is to encourage young writers and I hope that whatever is done for the centenary thee will be a lasting memorial that will help young people writing poetry and prose perhaps by spending some time with a senior writer or poet.

The edited interview will be showing for house tour visitors at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace at the start of 2013.

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The Dylan Thomas Society of GB was founded in 1977 and has been at the forefront of promoting the life and work of Dylan Thomas ever since. The membership is from all over the world including Australia, Japan and USA. It was one of the leading champions of a memorial stone to the poet in Westminster Abbeys Poets Corner and holds a memorial service each year around the time of his birth on 27 ^th October 1914 at Westminster Abbey. The society holds regular meetings and membership entitles free entry to the Dylan Thomas Birthplace house tours http://www.thedylanthomassocietyofgb.co.uk