Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu (15 August 1915 – 23 June 1983) was a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, editor, critic and publisher, who for many years played a significant part in the literary scenes of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1939 he founded the respected literary magazine '' Poetry London'', which "soon became the best known poetry periodical in England, and Tambimuttu became widely known as a skillful editor.""Tambimuttu, 67, Dies; Indian Poet and Editor"
''The New York Times'' (Obituaries), 24 June 1983. Four issues of ''Poetry London–New York'' were published in the 1950s; the fifth in 1960. Among those published by Tambimuttu were

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was an English poet, critic and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Plat ...

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...

Gavin Ewart Gavin Buchanan Ewart Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (4 February 1916 – 23 October 1995) was a British poet who contributed to Geoffrey Grigson's ''New Verse'' at the age of seventeen. Early life Gavin Ewart was born in Lond ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

Gregory Corso Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet. Along with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, he was part of the Beat Generation, as well as one of its youngest members. Early life Born N ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, Roy Campbell,

Robin Skelton Robin Skelton (12 October 1925 – 22 August 1997) was a British-Canadian academic, writer, poet, and anthologist. Biography Born in Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Easington, Yorkshire, Skelton was educated at the University of Leeds an ...

, Keith Douglas,

Norman Nicholson Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson (8 January 1914 – 30 May 1987) was an English writer. Although he is now known chiefly for his poetry, Nicholson also wrote in many other forms: novels, plays, essays, topography and criticism. Biography Nich ...

, and many other notable writers. In 1955 Tambimuttu was described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "probably the best-known contemporary Indian poet". He created two publishing houses, Editions Poetry London (established in 1943) and Lyrebird Press (1968), both of which published major works.

Biography

Tambimuttu was born in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now Sri Lanka), had his primary education at the premier Catholic institution

St. Joseph's College, Colombo St. Joseph's College is a selective-entry Roman Catholic school in Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1896 by French Missionaries led by Rev. Father Christophe Ernest Bonjean. The college has over 4,000 enrolled students with a staff of over 450 as o ...

, and attended university in Colombo before leaving for

at the age of 22. He arrived in 1938, and a year later he began to publish '' Poetry London'', a small magazine that was to be important in the next decade, in particular during the war years. Tambi, as he was called by his friends, met

at this time in connection with the small magazine that Durrell published in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, ''Delta'' (developing from ''The Booster''). As well as editing 14 volumes of ''Poetry London'', Tambi was also involved in book publishing, writing his own poetry and short fiction, as well as being a regular participant in the

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

broadcasts ''Talking To India'' during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In July 1943 he set up the publishing house Editions Poetry London, which published

Elizabeth Smart Elizabeth Ann Gilmour (née Smart; born November 3, 1987) is an American child safety activist and commentator for ABC News. She gained national attention at age 14 when she was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City by Brian David Mitchell. ...

's '' By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept'',

David Gascoyne David Gascoyne (10 October 1916 – 25 November 2001) was an English poet associated with the Surrealist movement, in particular the British Surrealist Group. Additionally, he translated work by French surrealist poets. Early life and surreal ...

''Poems 1937-1942'',

's ''Cefalu'',

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, so ...

's ''The Cosmological Eye'' and ''Sunday After the War'',

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

's ''The Real Life of Sebastian Knight'', Keith Douglas' ''Alamein to Zem Zem'', and

Cleanth Brooks Cleanth Brooks ( ; October 16, 1906 – May 10, 1994) was an American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher ...

' ''Modern Poetry and the Tradition''. Other poets published in ''Poetry London'' are a veritable "who's who" of late

modernist poetry Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in quest of the critic setti ...

. In 1943, Tambimuttu commissioned the young artist

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

to illustrate a book of poems by Nicholas Moore entitled ''The Glass Tower''. It was published the following year by Editions Poetry London and comprised, among other drawings, a stuffed zebra and a palm tree. Tambimuttu returned to Ceylon in 1949, and in 1952 moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where he worked as an editor, launching ''Poetry London – New York'' (1956–60), the last issue 5 including American

Beat poets The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced Culture of the United States, American culture and Politics of the United States, politics in the post-World War II era. The ...

. He returned to

in 1968 and founded the Lyrebird Press. He became important to the development of the October Gallery, which opened in 1979, and where he maintained an office, introducing many Indian and Sri Lankan artists and poets to the gallery. He died aged 67 in London. Archives of Tambimuttu's correspondence and papers are dispersed, but the largest collections are at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

.Chris Becket (notes)
"Tambimuttu and the Poetry London Papers at the British Library: Reputation and Evidence"
''Electronic British Library Journal'', 2009. Most of Tambimuttu's own works are difficult to access, and his earliest works published before he came to London are lost. His greatest influence was as an editor and publisher, especially during the 1940s.

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

count among his influences, while he influenced Lawrence Durrell,

Nicholas Moore Nicholas Moore (16 November 1918 – 26 January 1986) was an English poet, associated with the New Apocalyptics in the 1940s, whose reputation stood as high as Dylan Thomas’s. He later dropped out of the literary world. Biography Moore wa ...

Gavin Maxwell Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS (15 July 19147 September 1969) was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He became most famous for '' Ring of Bright Water'' (1960) and its sequels, which ...

, and George Barker.

Works

Poetry

* ''Natarajah: A Poem for Mr. T. S. Eliot's Sixtieth Birthday'' (

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

), PL Pamphlets * ''Out of this War'' (

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

), The Fortune Press

Editions

* ''T. S. Eliot: A Symposium'' compiled by Richard March and Tambimuttu (

), Editions Poetry London * ''Poetry in Wartime: An Anthology'' (

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

), Faber and Faber * ''India Love Poems'' (

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

), Editions Poetry London

Notes

External links

Page at One Hundred Tamils

published in the collection: T. Wignesan. Rama and Ravana at the Altar of Hanuman: On Tamils, Tamil Literature & Tamil Culture. Allahabad:Cyberwit.net, 2008, 750p. & at Chennai: Institute of Asian Studies, 2007, 439p.
Tambimuttu Archive
at Northwestern University Library

at the British Library: Reputation and Evidence

at the British Library
Meary James Tambimuttu"
''Making Britain'', The Open University.
The Papers of Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu
at the British Library
"Tambimuttu, 1915-1983"
Northwestern University Libraries , Archival and Manuscript Collections. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tambimuttu 1915 births 1983 deaths 20th-century British poets 20th-century poets Book publishers (people) Book publishing company founders British people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Sri Lankan Christians Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Kingdom Sri Lankan expatriates in the United States Sri Lankan Tamil poets Sri Lankan Tamil people Writers from Colombo