Robin Hyde further literary papers

Better known by her pseudonym Robin Hyde, the poet and author Iris Guiver Wilkinson (1906-1939) was born in South Africa and came to New Zealand as an infant. She spent her childhood in Wellington and attended Wellington Girls College. On leaving school she studied briefly at Victoria University College and in 1923 began work at the Dominion editing the children’s page of the Farmers’ advocate .

The following year she was hospitalised for a knee infection which left her with a permanent limp and dependent on opiates for pain relief. In 1926 a brief love affair left her pregnant. She resigned from her job at the Dominion and travelled to Sydney where she gave birth, in secret, to a stillborn son whom she named Christopher Robin Hyde. While recovering from a subsequent breakdown she began writing under the name Robin Hyde and her first book of poetry, The desolate star, was published under this name in 1929. When well enough Hyde found employment with the New Zealand Truth, Christchurch Sun and in May 1929 was appointed lady editor at the Wanganui Chronicle .

Hyde gave birth to a second son Derek Challis in October 1930 whom she fostered out. To contribute to his care and to support herself, Hyde moved to Auckland in early 1931 work for the New Zealand Observer. When Hyde lost her job in May 1933, the resulting financial and emotional stress led to a suicide attempt. For the next four years she spent time in a voluntary ward at the Auckland Mental Hospital. Encouraged to write by her doctors, these were productive years for Hyde, resulting in the publication of two further poetry collections, six books of prose and numerous articles.

Hyde departed Auckland for England in January 1938, hoping to gain further recognition as a writer. She decided to visit mainland China after her ship was delayed in Hong Kong. Her remarkable five-month journey through war-torn China is covered in her final book, Dragon Rampant, published in 1939. Ill and exhausted, Hyde resumed her journey to England in late August 1938.

Hyde died in England on 23 August 1939 of Benzedrine poisoning. The coroner later ruled that she had committed suicide. She was just 33.