[The following is quoted from The National News]
Scholar and poet dies at the age of 59
By JULIA DAIA BORE, for THE NATIONAL
TheNational.com.pg
A SCHOLAR and poet
Francis Kumalau Tawali
has died.
Mr Tawali died of a
stroke at his Madang home
at l0pm last Friday [Nov.17, 2006].
He was 59 years old.
Mr.
Tawali, from Tawi Island,
Manus province, was also
a former columnist with
The National.
His column was titled
Eye on the Nation which
began in 1994. One of his
close friends and associates,
Andrew Kwimberi of
Kwimberi Lawyers, yesterday
described him as a
"very powerful" writer.
I remember one of the columns where he talked about private morality and public morality. It is a challenge to policy makers.
He said to the effect that you cannot live crooked and think straight on issues that affect public good. What we do in private will no doubt affect our public life.
You cannot separate them, Mr. Kwimberi said of his late friend and mentor. Mr Tawali was a high school teacher at Manus
High School and moved to Port Moresby as a lecturer in literature at the University
of PNG in the 1970s. In 1981, he returned to
study where he gained his Master of Arts in Theology
from the Regent College in [Vancouver, University of BC Campus]
British Columbia in Canada.
He was a lecturer at the Christian Leadership
Training College in Banz, Westem Highlands province. He was also a long serving pastor until 2000 when heretired due to an earlier stoke he suffered in 1996 (from which he recovered fully) and continued his pastoral duties as a Baptist church minister.
Mr Tawali has written and published many poems, short stories and was currently working on two books - one on leadership
and the other on his collection of articles written for The National untll his death.
Biographic Sketch
of
Kumalau Tawali, the Poet / Playwrite / Story Writer-Columnist / Pastor
Kumafau Tawali was born in 1947,
on the small island of Tawi, in the
Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.
His emergence as a writer was
recognized in 1969 when he won
the National Literature Competition
Award for his short story, Breaking
the Ear. Since then, he has
published several works.
They include two volumes of poerns, two volumes of plays and a
collection of short stories called Island Life. Other short stories and
poetry have been widely circulated both in PNG and abroad,
He is a well-read man who has traveled to several countries.
Having graduated from UPNG in 197t, he made a trip around the
world. Two of the poems included in this booklet - Winter Clutches
and An Eagle - were written when he was in Canada.
As an active writer, he has contributed extensively to the creative
writers'world in PNG.
He wrote a weekly column called Eye of the Nation for the
National - previously called the PNG Times - on Christian Ethics.
He has served as Director of the Institute of PNG Studies and as a
Pastor of churches in Port Moresby and Madang. He had also been
a teacher at Christian Leaders'Training College in Banz.
Presently, he resides in Madang with his Fijian indian wife Sisilia
and two children, Katherine and Timothy.
Note: Mr. Talawi died November 17, 2006 in Mandang.
return to top of page for news copy announcement of his death
References - Footnotes from Above Articles
- Andrew Kwimberi, Barrister & Solicitor
Goma & Kwimberi Lawyers,
(PO Box 82 Waigani),
Phone: 323 4011,
Email: gomakwimberi@daltron.com.pg
- Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies
P.O. Box 1432, Boroko 111
Papua New Guinea
Tel.: (675) 325-4644
Email: ipngs@global.net.pg
{following is quoted from ethnoer.unimelb.edu.au/IPNGStudiesTalk.pdf 2006.12.01 by PNGbuai.com
INSTITUTE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA STUDIES IN BRIEF
1974 - 2006
Vincent J Palie
Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies
Boroko, Papua New Guinea.
1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The institute of Papua New Guinea Studies was established in 1974, one year before
Papua New Guinea got its independence on 16th of September 1975. The Institute of
Papua New Guinea Studies is a government institute concerned with cultural research,
administratively under the National Cultural Commission.
In its 30 years history of existence, the institute has done all can to the best of its
ability through its dedicated staff to do research and collect as much information
about more than one thousand different cultures, particularly traditional music, dance
and folklore of the country.
Its main objective is to do research and collect as much information on music, dance
and folklore and deposit the finding in the institutes archive for future usages.
Because of urban drift and with impact of overseas cultures so many local cultures
and languages are dying out at a very alarming rate.
One can imagine how difficult it is for a country with so many cultures and languages
exist as a nation of its own. We play an important role in documenting and
understanding the diversity of Papua New Guinea musics.
The institute of Papua New Guinea Studies Music Archive has about 10,060 tapes,
discs, cassettes, and tapes comprising 5652 collections. These are catalogued in a
database of over 15,000 items, providing information on cataloguing Number, the
year institute received the materials and archival number ie,( 06-001), collectors
name, ( J Cook year, the material was recorded,( 1945), Province, East Sepik),
language, (Iatmul) and so forth. T o access the database, we log in name of the
collector or province and or language to locate the desire material. This database is
now being transferred to Microsoft Access.
The collection contains recordings of traditional, popular, Christian, and stringband
music, dating from 1898 to the present. Original recording been made by IPNGS staff
Web Site Design & Administration
University of Papua New Guinea Book Shop
Design Team 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Web Page Development Sponsors:
the time/expenses to put up the above information is in part donated by the
legal support volunteers in Canada and PNG affiliated with the following legal reference websites:
-
If you are interested in Canada legal information sources about government and private sector lawyers consider CanadaLegal.info
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