Boonlua Debyasuvarn

Mom Luang Boonlua Debyasuvarn^[a] née Kunchon (December 13, 1911 – June 7, 1982), writing under the pen name Boonlua, was a Thai writer, educator and civil servant.^[1][2] She is considered to have been one of Thailand's most important educators during a crucial phase of that country's modernization.^[3]

Professor Mom Luang Boonlua Debyasuvarn MPCh MWM PChW
บุญเหลือ เทพยสุวรรณ
Born	(1911-12-23)23 December 1911 Phra Nakhon, Siam
Died	June 7, 1982(1982-06-07) (aged 70)
Nationality	Thai
Occupation(s)	Novelists, academic
Spouse	Chom Debyasuvarn

Biography

The youngest child of Chao Phraya Thewet, a high ranking official who had 32 children, and the only child of Mom Nual, a classical Thai dancer, she was born in Bangkok and was educated at a Catholic convent primary school there, at a convent secondary school in Penang and then earned her secondary school certificate at Saint Mary’s S.P.G School in Bangkok. She received a BA in Thai language and literature at Chulalongkorn University in 1936 and an MA in education from the University of Minnesota in 1950.^[4][1][5]

After her graduation from Chulalongkorn University, she entered public service. She later became a teacher of literature and then an educational administrator in the Ministry of Education. After completing her master's degree which had been funded by a scholarship, she returned to Thailand. She retired from public service in 1970; around the same time, she married a doctor. Boonlua also began writing, producing five novels.^[6][1] She published a number of essays on Thai literature and is thought to have established the basis for modern Thai literary criticism.^[7] Some of Boonlua's work has been translated into English and incorporated into a number of comparative studies of contemporary Southeast Asian writing. She also translated English stories into Thai and Thai literature into English.^[8]

In 1968, she was tasked with founding the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Sanam Chandra Palace Campus of Silpakorn University.^[7]

Her sister M.L. Buppha Kunchon Nimmanhemin, also a novelist, wrote under the name Dō̜kmai Sot.^[9]

Royal decorations

• 1968 – Commander (Third Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant^[10]
• 1954 – Commander (Third Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand^[11]
• 1971 – Companion (Third Class) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao^[12]

Selected works

• Thutiyawiset, novel (1968)
• Suratnari, novel (The Land of Women) (1972)^[4]
• Sneh Plai Jwak, novella (The Enchanted Cooking Spoon)^[8]

Notes

1. Mom Luang is a title that indicates that she was a great-great-grandchild of a king.