Rona Jean Murray (born February 10, 1924

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

- died July 9, 2003

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada) was a Canadian poet.

Life

Murray spent her early childhood in India where her father commanded a

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

regiment. When she was eight years old her family immigrated to Canada in 1932. Rona attended

Queen Margaret's School Queen Margaret’s School is a Canadian school in Duncan, British Columbia, in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. It has some 345 students in its preschool and kindergarten, junior school and senior school divisions. It also teaches ridi ...

from 1932 to 1941. She studied at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

, and later graduated from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

, where she earned a Ph.D. She taught at

Douglas College Douglas College is the largest public degree-granting college institution in British Columbia, Canada. Close to 17,000 credit students, 8,500 continuing education students and 4,210 international students are enrolled here. Douglas College o ...

Selkirk College Campuses Selkirk College has eight campuses and learning centres across the West Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary Regional District, Kootenay Boundary regions: * Castlegar Campus * Grand Forks Campus * Kaslo Learning Centre * Nakusp Learning Cen ...

, Castlegar,

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

, and

. In 1944 Murray married Gerry Haddon and had 3 children; they divorced. She later married ceramics artist Walter Dexter. They lived on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

. Her papers are held at

Awards

Rona Murray has been granted the following awards, * 1984 Ethel Wilson B.C. Fiction Award, Shortlisted, for ''The Indigo Dress and Other Stories'' * 1982

Pat Lowther Award The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is an annual award presented by the League of Canadian Poets to the year's best book of poetry by a Canadian woman.Biographical Note

Alan Twigg Alan Twigg, CM is a Canadian writer, publisher, and biographer. He published BC Bookworld for many years, a trade newspaper for the British Columbia book publishing industry, and ABCBookWorld, an online encyclopedia of British Columbia authors. H ...

, ''ABC Bookworld'' 1924 births 2003 deaths Canadian women poets University of British Columbia alumni University of Victoria faculty University of British Columbia faculty Alumni of the University of Kent 20th-century Canadian poets English emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian women writers {{Canada-poet-stub