Tambimuttu, 1915-

Born in the village of Atchuveli, in the Jaffna peninsula of northern Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), 15 August, 1915, Tambimuttu was raised as a Christian Tamil, and educated at St Joseph’s College, Colombo, a Catholic institution, where English was the medium of instruction. Although in later life Tambimuttu took an increasing interest in his Hindu and Tamil heritage, English was Tambimuttu’s first language, and he looked to London to further his literary aspirations. Tambimuttu’s father was an employee of the Government Printing Press, and his grandfather was a printer. As a young man, Tambimuttu handset three slim volumes of poetry juvenilia on his grandfather’s press.

Tambimuttu arrived in London in January, 1938, and quickly discovered the area of London just north of Soho, now known as Fitzrovia, after the Fitzroy Tavern, one of several public houses where aspiring writers and artists of the period met. Gregarious, affable and fired with literary ambition, Tambimuttu quickly established friendships, and with Anthony Dickins, a young music scholar, he determined to start a new poetry magazine, with the title Poetry. A prospectus was quickly issued, the first issue appearing in February 1939, with an editorial by Tambimuttu that presented the magazine as a forum for new poetry and for newly-emerging poets. The inclusive tone of the editorial (‘every man has poetry within him’) was refreshing and struck a chord with many aspiring writers. The magazine quickly established itself as the leading poetry journal of the 1940s.

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