Eifion Jenkins, South Wales Evening Post

Vernon Watkins, soulmate of the Swansea's other great poet, Dylan Thomas, often lived in the shadow of Thomas's attention-grabbing lifestyle. He was a member of famous literary and artistic group the Kardomah Boys and remained a close friend of Thomas, although Watkins enjoyed a more peaceful personal and family life by comparison.

Earning his living as a bank clerk, he lived most of his life in Gower with his wife and five children.

He was considered as a candidate for poet laureate and many critics regard Watkins as Thomas's equal in literary terms - if not an even greater talent.

And on what would have been Vernon's 100th birthday, his New Selected Poems was launched by Carcanet Press at the Dylan Thomas Centre.

The book includes selections from his Collected Poems, some previously unseen work written as a youngster and some unpublished mature poems.

His widow, Gwen, who will be among the special guests at the launch, is very pleased to see the latest book in print.

"When he died in 1967, he left quite a lot of unpublished work and in the 10 years after his death I did bring out several collections," said Gwen, now in her 80s.

"Since the 1980s nothing has been published and his biographer Richard Ramsbotham felt the centenary year was the time to do it."

The book contains several favourites of Gwen's. "Almost every poem is autobiographical," she said. "A True Picture Restored, is about Dylan Thomas and The Death Bell is about the death of Vernon's father.

"What is often not recognised - because both Vernon and Dylan wrote in English - is they were both Welsh to the bottom of their hearts. Vernon used to think their Welsh blood made them different," she said.