(Lauris Edmond completed her remarkable three-volume autob...)
Lauris Edmond completed her remarkable three-volume autobiography in the early 1990's. It tells the story of a Hawkes Bay childhood in an unconventional home, wartime years as a student in Wellington, motherhood and teaching in country towns. And then Lauris Edmond's 'second life' began, when she became an award-winning poet of international standing - a life that she describes, however, as no more real nor more important, than that earlier one.
Lauris Dorothy Edmond was a New Zealand poet, educator and editor. She published eleven collections of verse, a novel, three volumes of autobiography and radio and stage drama. In addition, Lauris served as a teacher and lecturer for several years.
Background
Lauris Edmond was born on April 2, 1924, in Dannevirke, New Zealand, in the family of Lewis Herbert Scott, a storekeeper, and Fanny (Price) Scott, who had trained as a teacher and wrote and acted in plays.
Lauris had an older brother, Clive, and younger siblings, Lindsay and John. She lived most of her childhood in Greenmeadows, near Napier.
Education
Lauris got a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Waikato in 1968. Then, in 1971, she got a Master of Arts degree with honors from Victoria University of Wellington.
In 1988, Lauris received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Massey University.
Between 1967 and 1969, Edmond worked as a teacher at Huntly College in Waikato. In the early 1970's, to be more precise, from 1970 till 1971, she held a post of a teacher and lecturer at Heretaunga College.
During the period from 1972 till 1981, Edmond edited Post Primary Teachers Journal. In 1981, she edited the letters of A. R. D. Fairburn. Then, in 1983, she began working as a tutor at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. In 1991, Lauris co-founded the literary magazine New Zealand Books.
Speaking about Lauris' writing career, she did not publish her poetry until 1975, when the collection "In Middle Air" went to press. That volume was followed by over a dozen others, including "Summer near the Arctic Circle", "A Matter of Timing" and her final poetry collection "In Position". She also wrote the play "Between Night and Morning".
In addition, Lauris was a frequent speaker at writers' festivals and her writer-in-residence posts included Deakin University in Melbourne.
During her lifetime, Lauris stayed as far away as was possible from all forms of organized religion.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"She was friend to several generations of women, especially writers, who admired her as a pioneer for breaking with social convention and carving out a successful literary life at a time when this seemed risky." - Janet Wilson, a United Kingdom-based New Zealand academic, who specialises in post colonial New Zealand literature
Connections
Lauris married Trevor Charles Edmond on May 16, 1945. Their marriage produced six children - Virginia Anne, Frances Elizabeth, Martin John, Rachel Mary, Stephanie Jane and Katherine Lindsay. Rachel Mary committed suicide in 1975. Lauris' only son, Martin, is a writer. Lauris and her husband parted in the mid-1980's. However, she continued to see him after their divorce and nursed him until his death.