Thumboo, Edwin (1933– ) Poet and academic. After graduating in English from the University of Malaya in 1957, Edwin Nadason Thumboo worked as a civil servant before joining the university as a lecturer in 1966. His doctoral dissertation was on African poetry in English.

Thumboo is a seminal figure in the development of Singapore’s literature in English. He edited some of the earliest anthologies of English literature from Singapore and Malaysia, such as The Flowering Tree: Selected Writings from Singapore and Malaysia (1970), Seven Poets: Singapore and Malaysia (1973) and The Second Tongue: An Anthology of Poetry from Singapore and Malaysia (1976). He was general editor of The Poetry of Singapore (1985) and The Fiction of Singapore (1990), both multilingual anthologies sponsored by the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information.

Thumboo has authored four volumes of poetry. Rib of Earth (1956) was published while Thumboo was still an undergraduate. As a member of the editorial board of Fajar, a publication of the University Socialist Club (see Fajar trial), Thumboo was among those arrested in 1954. Gods Can Die (1977) and Ulysses by the Merlion (1979) respectively won the 1978 and 1980 National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Awards for Poetry. Many of his poems are concerned with political independence, nation- building and identity. His ‘Ulysses by the Merlion’ has provoked a spectrum of responses by poets such as Lee Tzu Pheng, Alfian Sa’at, Alvin Pang, Daren Shiau, Felix Cheong and Gwee Li Sui (see Merlion).

The first recipient of the Cultural Medallion for Literature in 1979, Thumboo also received the Southeast Asia Write Award in 1979, the ASEAN Cultural and Communication Award in 1987, the Public Service Star in 1991, and the Raja Rao Award in 2002. He was Fulbright Professor at Pennsylvania State University (1979– 80); Ida Beam Professor at the University of Iowa (1986); and George A. Miller Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois (1998). Thumboo was head of the department of English language and literature, National University of Singapore (NUS) (1977– 93); dean of the faculty of arts and social sciences, NUS (1980– 91); and founding director of the NUS Centre for the Arts (1993– 2005). He was made emeritus professor by NUS in 1997. Thumboo was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2006.

Photo credit: Edwin Thumboo