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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu
| image =
| caption =
| pseudonym = Tambimuttu
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|8|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Ceylon]], [[Sri Lanka]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|6|23|1915|8|15|df=y}}
| death_place = [[London]], [[England]]
| occupation = Editor, poet
| nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]]
| period = [[1938 in literature|1938]]–[[1983 in literature|83]]
| genre = Poetry
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
*Jacqueline Stanley (1940-1941)
* Safia Tyabjee (1950-1983)
* Esta Smith (1960-1965)
}}
| website =
| imagesize =
}}

'''Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu''' (15 August 1915 – 23 June 1983) was a [[Tamil people|Tamil]] [[poet]], editor, critic and publisher, who for many years played a significant part on the literary scenes of [[London]] and [[New York City]]. He founded in 1939 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."<ref name=NYT>[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/24/obituaries/tambimuttu-67-dies-indian-poet-and-editor.html "Tambimuttu, 67, Dies; Indian Poet and Editor"], ''The New York Times'' (Obituaries), 24 June 1983.</ref> Four issues of ''Poetry London–New York'' were published in the 1950s; the fifth in 1960. Among those published by Tambimuttu were [[Lawrence Durrell]], [[Kathleen Raine]], [[W. H. Auden]], [[Gavin Ewart]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Gregory Corso]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Roy Campbell (poet)|Roy Campbell]], [[Robin Skelton]], [[Keith Douglas]], and many other notable writers.<ref>[[Ben Sonnenberg|Sonnenberg, Ben]], [https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/21/bookend/bookend.html "Tambimuttu in New York"], ''The New York Times'', 21 September 1997.</ref> In 1955 Tambimuttu was described by ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "probably the best-known contemporary Sri Lankan Tamil poet".<ref name=NYT /> He created two publishing houses, Editions Poetry London (established in 1943) and Lyrebird Press (1968), both of which published major works.<ref name=Wasafiri>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/02690055.2012.662033 | volume=27 | title=Meary James Tambimuttu | year=2012 | journal=Wasafiri | page=11}}</ref>

==Biography==
Tambimuttu was born in [[Ceylon]] (now Sri Lanka), had his primary education at the premier Catholic institution [[St. Joseph's College, Colombo]], and attended university in Colombo before leaving for [[London]] 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 [[Lawrence Durrell]] at this time in connection with the small magazine that Durrell published in [[Paris]], ''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]] broadcasts ''Talking To India'' during [[World War II]].<ref name=Wasafiri />

In July 1943 he set up the publishing house Editions Poetry London, which published [[Elizabeth Smart (author)|Elizabeth Smart]]'s ''[[By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept]]'', [[David Gascoyne]] ''Poems 1937-1942'', [[Lawrence Durrell]]'s ''Cefalu'', [[Henry Miller]]'s ''The Cosmological Eye'' and ''Sunday After the War'', [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s ''The Real Life of Sebastian Knight'', [[Keith Douglas]]' ''Alamein to Zem Zem'', and [[Cleanth Brooks]]' ''Modern Poetry and the Tradition''.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Williams
| first = Jane
| title = Tambimuttu: Bridge Between Two Worlds
| publisher = Peter Owen
| year = 1989
| isbn = 0-7206-0718-3
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/tambimuttubridge00will
}} pp. 274–290.</ref> Other poets published in ''Poetry London'' are a veritable "who's who" of late [[modernist poetry]]. In 1943, Tambimuttu commissioned the young artist [[Lucian Freud]] 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]], where he worked as an editor, launching ''Poetry London – New York'' (1956–60),<ref name=Wasafiri /> the last issue 5 including American [[Beat poets]].

He returned to [[London]] in 1968 and founded the Lyrebird Press.<ref name=Wasafiri /> He died in London, aged 67. Archives of Tambimuttu's correspondence and papers are dispersed, but the largest collections are at [[Northwestern University]] and the [[British Library]].<ref>Chris Becket (notes), [http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2009articles/article9.html "Tambimuttu and the Poetry London Papers at the British Library: Reputation and Evidence"], ''Electronic British Library Journal'', 2009.</ref>

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]], [[Lawrence Durrell]], [[Dylan Thomas]] count among his influences, while he influenced Lawrence Durrell, [[Elizabeth Smart]], [[Nicholas Moore]], [[Kathleen Raine]], and [[George Barker (poet)|George Barker]].{{fact|date=August 2020}}

==Works==

===Poetry===
* ''Natarajah: A Poem for Mr. T. S. Eliot's Sixtieth Birthday'' ([[1948 in literature|1948]]), PL Pamphlets
* ''Out of this War'' ([[1941 in literature|1941]]), The Fortune Press

===Editions===
* ''T. S. Eliot: A Symposium'' compiled by Richard March and Tambimuttu ([[1948 in literature|1948]]), Editions Poetry London
* ''Poetry in Wartime: An Anthology'' ([[1942 in literature|1942]]), Faber and Faber
* ''India Love Poems'' ([[1977 in literature|1977]]), Editions Poetry London

==Notes==
<references />

== External links ==
* [http://www.tamilnation.co/hundredtamils/tambimuttu.htm Page at One Hundred Tamils]
* [http://www.stateless.freehosting.net/M.J.T.Tambimuttu.htm Tamil studies Now] 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.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100609011210/http://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/fedora/get/inu:inu-ead-spec-0120/inu:EADbDef11/getBiographicalHistory Tambimuttu Archive] at Northwestern University Library
* [http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2009articles/article9.html Tambimuttu and the ''Poetry London'' Papers] at the British Library: Reputation and Evidence
*[http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2016articles/article10.html Tambimuttu: Re-inventing the Art of Poetry Illustration] at the British Library

*http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/meary-james-tambimuttu
*[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-000001608 The Papers of Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu] at the British Library
*https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/agents/people/2358

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tambimuttu}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil poets]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan Christians]]
[[Category:20th-century poets]]
[[Category:British people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Book publishers (people)]]
[[Category:20th-century British poets]]
[[Category:People from Colombo]]

Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu - Revision history

->Johnpacklambert: added Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in the United States using HotCat

imported>Xurizuri: /* Editions */ no need to indicate what the abbreviation is