Taiwanese poet Lin Juei-ming (林瑞明), the first director of the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, died on Monday at his home at the age of 68, the museum said on Tuesday.
Museum Director Su Shuo-bin (蘇碩斌) led the staff of the Tainan-based museum in a moment of silence to mourn Lin.
Lin, also known by his pen names Lin Fan (林梵) and Lin Tui-ying (林退嬰), was born in 1950 in Tainan. A poet, author, critic, and history and literature researcher, he served as the first director of the Taiwan literature museum from 2003 to 2005.
Lin retired from his job as a professor of history at National Cheng Kung University in 2015 due to kidney disease. Despite his poor health, he often took part in social activities.
He appeared at Su’s inauguration ceremony as museum director last month and attended evaluation committee meetings to review submissions for the Taiwan Literature Awards.
Lin, who usually wore an Aborigine-style vest, devoted himself to promoting Aboriginal literature and took particular care of Aboriginal writers.
An excerpt of poetry written in 1914 by Lai Ho (賴和), a classical Taiwanese poet, that was in one of Lin’s publications was used in this year’s spring festival couplets distributed by the Presidential Office.
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