Ruth Dallas
Ruth Dallas | |
---|---|
Born | Ruth Minnie Mumford (1919-09-29)29 September 1919 Invercargill, New Zealand |
Died | 18 March 2008(2008-03-18) (aged 88) Dunedin, New Zealand |
Alma mater | Southland Technical College |
Genre | Poetry |
Notable awards | Robert Burns Fellowship |
Ruth Minnie Mumford CBE (29 September 1919 – 18 March 2008), better known by her pen name Ruth Dallas, was a New Zealand poet and children's author.
Biography
Dallas was born in Invercargill, the daughter of Frank and Minnie Mumford. She became blind in one eye at 15, then spent three years at the Southland Technical College and was engaged at 19. But her fiancé broke off the engagement to serve in Great Britain during World War II. During the war she worked at an army office and as a milk tester. Following the war, in 1946, her first published poem, "Morning Mountains" appeared in The Southland Times. She adopted her maternal grandmother's name, Dallas, as a pen name.[1] Her first book of poetry, Country Road and Other Poems, was published in 1953. In 1954 she moved to Dunedin, where she lived for most of her life.[2]
In her autobiography, she explains that during her upbringing no person or milieu would have encouraged her to write poetry: 'I am at a loss to account for the fact that I wrote poetry in an environment where I knew no one who was interested in poetry.'[3] Nevertheless, her poetry is said to be influenced by William Wordsworth (and later in life by shorter Chinese poetry) and focuses upon southern New Zealand landscape.[4] Two of her most notable pieces of poetry, "Photographs of Pioneer Women" and "Pioneer Woman with Ferrets" were both written to show the inequality and sexist stereotypes of the time and to also give these pioneer women a voice. She was awarded the 1968 Robert Burns Fellowship by the University of Otago, which she used to launch a series of children's books, beginning with The Children in the Bush. In 1977, she was a joint winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry for her collection Walking on the Snow; that same year she received for Song for a Guitar and Other Songs the Buckland Literary Award, for "the Literary Work for the year of the highest Literary Merit". In 1978 the University of Otago made her an honorary Doctor of Literature. Later, as her eyesight deteriorated, she received A Blind Achievers' Award. In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature.[2][5]
Dallas died in 2008 in hospital in Dunedin after a fall in her home.[2] Her ashes were buried in Andersons Bay Cemetery.[6]
Bibliography
Poetry
- Country Road and Other Poems 1947-52 (Caxton Press, 1953)
- The Turning Wheel (Caxton Press, 1961)
- Experiment in Form (Press Room, University of Otago, 1964)
- Day Book: Poems of a Year (Caxton Press, 1966)
- Shadow Show (Caxton Press, 1968)
- Walking on the Snow (Caxton Press, 1976)
- Song for a Guitar and Other Songs (Otago University Press, 1976)
- Steps of the Sun (Caxton Press, 1979)
- Collected Poems (Otago University Press, 1987; 2nd ed. 2000)
- The Joy of a Ming Vase (Otago University Press, 2006)
Children's literature
- Ragamuffin Scarecrow (Bibliography Room, University of Otago, 1969)
- The Children in the Bush (Methuen, 1969)
- A Dog Called Wig (Methuen, 1970)
- The Wild Boy in the Bush (Methuen, 1971)
- The Big Flood in the Bush (Methuen, 1972)
- The House on the Cliffs (Methuen, 1975)
- Shining Rivers (Methuen, 1979)
- Holiday Time in the Bush (Methuen, 1983)
Short stories
- The Black Horse and Other Stories (Otago University Press, 2000)
Memoir
- Curved Horizon: An Autobiography (Otago University Press, 1991)
References
- ^ Room, Adrian (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins (5th ed.). McFarland. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-7864-4373-4.
- ^ a b c "Ruth Dallas 1919–2008; Southland poet saw meaning in landscapes". The Southland Times. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
- ^ Curved Horizon (1991) quoted in https://www.read-nz.org/writer/dallas-ruth
- ^ Willhardt, Mark; Parker, Alan Michael (2000). Who's who in twentieth-century world poetry. Psychology Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-415-16355-2.
- ^ International Who's Who in Poetry (12th ed.). Taylor & Francis US. 2004. p. 233. ISBN 1-85743-178-2.
- ^ "Cemeteries search". Dunedin City Council. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
- v
- t
- e
- 1959 Ian Cross
- 1960 Maurice Duggan
- 1961 John Caselberg
- 1962 R.A.K. Mason
- 1963 Maurice Shadbolt
- 1964 Maurice Gee
- 1965 Janet Frame
- 1966–67 James K. Baxter
- 1968 Ruth Dallas
- 1969 Warren Dibble
- 1970 O. E. Middleton
- 1971 Noel Hilliard
- 1972 Ian Wedde
- 1973 Graham Billing
- 1974 Hone Tuwhare
- 1975 Witi Ihimaera
- 1976 Sam Hunt
- 1977 Keri Hulme
- 1977–78 Roger Hall
- 1978 Peter Olds
- 1979 Michael A. Noonan
- 1980 Philip Temple
- 1981–82 William Sewell
- 1983 Rawiri Paratene
- 1984 Brian Turner
- 1985–86 Cilla McQueen
- 1987 Robert Lord
- 1988 John Dickson
- 1989 Renée
- 1990 David Eggleton
- 1991 Lynley Hood
- 1992 Owen Marshall
- 1993 Stuart Hoar
- 1994 Christine Johnston
- 1995 Elspeth Sandys
- 1996 Bernadette Hall
- 1997 Paddy Richardson
- 1998–99 Michael King
- 1999 Paula Boock
- 2000 James Norcliffe
- 2001 Jo Randerson
- 2002 Alison Wong
- 2003 Nick Ascroft
- 2003 Sarah Quigley
- 2004 Kate Duignan
- 2005–06 Catherine Chidgey
- 2006 Dianne Ruth Pettis
- 2007 Laurence Fearnley
- 2008 Sue Wootton
- 2009 Michael Harlow
- 2010 Michele Powles
- 2011 Fiona Farrell
- 2012 Emma Neale
- 2013 David Howard
- 2014 Majella Cullinane
- 2015 Louise Wallace
- 2016 Victor Rodger
- 2017 Craig Cliff
- 2018 Rhian Gallagher
- 2019 Emily Duncan
- 2020 John Newton
- 2021 Becky Manawatu
- 2022 Albert Belz
- 2023 Kathryn van Beek
- 2024 Mikaela Nyman