Edwin Thumboo therefore worked in the civil service for about nine years before finally joining the university, then renamed the University of Singapore, in 1966 following Singapore's independence.
24 Facts About Edwin Thumboo
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2.
Edwin Thumboo rose to the position of full professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, heading the department between 1977 and 1993.
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Edwin Thumboo was the first Chairman and Director of the university's Centre for the Arts from 1993 to 2005, and continues to be associated with the university as an emeritus professor, a position he has held since retiring from full-time teaching in September 1997.
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Edwin Thumboo's poetry is inspired by myth and history, and he is often dubbed Singapore's unofficial poet laureate because of his poems with nationalistic themes.
5.
Edwin Thumboo has won the National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Awards for Poetry three times, in 1978,1980 and 1994.
6.
Edwin Thumboo was conferred a Bintang Bakti Masyarakat in 1981 with an additional Bar in 1991, and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang in 2006.
7.
Edwin Thumboo conceived the first National Poetry Festival for Singapore in 2015.
8.
Edwin Thumboo, born in Singapore on 22 November 1933, was the eldest of eight children of a Tamil Indian schoolteacher and a Teochew-Peranakan Chinese housewife from a Singaporean merchant family.
9.
Edwin Thumboo completed his primary education at Pasir Panjang Primary School in 1940.
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Edwin Thumboo considers Frazer his spiritual father, and later dedicated Rib of Earth, his first collection of poetry published while an undergraduate, to him.
11.
Edwin Thumboo majored in English literature and history at the University of Malaya.
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Edwin Thumboo therefore entered the civil service, working for the Income Tax Department, Central Provident Fund Board, and the Singapore Telephone Board where he was an assistant secretary.
13.
Edwin Thumboo became a full professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, heading the department between 1977 and 1993.
14.
Edwin Thumboo was appointed a Professorial Fellow by NUS in 1995 and continues to be associated with the university as an emeritus professor, a position he has held since he retired from full-time teaching in September 1997.
15.
Edwin Thumboo served as the first Chairman and Director of the university's Centre for the Arts from 1993 to 2005.
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Edwin Thumboo held visiting professorships and fellowships at universities in Australia, the UK and the US.
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In 1991, Edwin Thumboo worked with the Ministry of Education to help establish the Creative Arts Programme for secondary school and junior college students in Singapore.
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Edwin Thumboo continues to mentor young poets under the programme.
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Edwin Thumboo describes himself as a myth-inspired poet, and sees myths as ancient narratives and structures which provide a stable point of reference for a multicultural society.
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Edwin Thumboo was the general editor of two multilingual anthologies sponsored by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Committee of Culture and Information entitled The Poetry of Singapore and The Fiction of Singapore.
21.
I've come to see that Edwin Thumboo writes incessantly, because he is driven to communicate something of a better world; he rolls his sleeves up to act, because he is impatient with waiting for this world to change; and he forges friendships, because these represent the hope for a better world even within this imperfect one.
22.
Edwin Thumboo has won the National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Awards for Poetry three times, in 1978 for Gods Can Die, in 1980 for Ulysses by the Merlion, and again in 1994 for A Third Map.
23.
Edwin Thumboo was conferred a Bintang Bakti Masyarakat in 1981 with an additional Bar in 1991, and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang as Distinguished Poet and Literary Scholar in 2006.
24.
Some of Edwin Thumboo's poems have biblical themes, reflecting the fact that he was born into a Protestant Christian family and baptized as an adult.