SWANSEA-CORK EXCHANGE BASED AT THE DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE

This year's Swansea-Cork exchange brings together some of Ireland and
Wales' finest talents for a number of events in early December, when
Cork-born singer/songwriter John Spillane will visit Swansea with poet
Louis de Paor. They will run a poetry and music workshop at Dylan
Thomas' birthplace, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, on Sunday, 2nd December between
10.30-4.00. In the evening, they will perform their work in the
Chattery, Uplands, from 7.30pm. On Monday 3rd December at 7.30pm, they
will be performing at the Dylan Thomas Centre with Swansea writers and
musicians, including Nigel Jenkins, Dave Hughes and Jen Wilson, in a
special evening in association with the Institute of Welsh Affairs.

Louis de Paor is a poet and academic, based at the National University
of Ireland in Galway, where he is Director of Irish Studies. He has won
a number of prestigious awards for his poetry, including the Lawrence
O'Shaughnessy Award in 2000. He was the first poet in Irish to receive
this distinction. As well as publishing bilingual collections of poetry,
he has written articles on a broad range of writing in Irish from the
Court poetry of medieval Ireland to the work of contemporary poets such
as Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, who read in the Dylan Thomas Centre during the
recent Dylan Thomas Celebration.

John Spillane is another native of Cork who is enjoying great success.
After singing with a band for a number of years, he released his first
solo album, 'The Wells of the World' to great acclaim in 1997, and his
world-wide fanbase are eagerly awaiting the release of his second album,
'Will We Be Brilliant or What?'. He went to school with Louis de Paor,
and they have been writing songs together for many years. Spillane
refers to their collaborations as 'The Gaelic Hit Factory', and earlier
this year they won the Realta 2001 Irish Song Contest with one of their
songs.

For more information on these events, please contact David Woolley at
the Dylan Thomas Centre on 01792 463980.