Jennifer Rankin


Jennifer Rankin was an Australian poet and playwright.

Early life and education

Jennifer Mary Haynes was born in Chatswood, [New South Wales], on 28 November 1941. She grew up in Sydney and went to Ravenswood Methodist School. She then studied English and psychology at University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1962. At university, she was affiliated with the Downtown Push, "a loose group of artists, bohemians, and libertarians which included Clive James and Germaine Greer". She later completed a Diploma of Education at University of [New England, Australia|UNE] in 1968.

Writing

Her first surviving poems date from 1969; her first play, untitled, from 1973. Some of her plays, were produced for stage and radio during her lifetime. She received an Australia Council Senior Literary Fellowship in 1978 and had two books of poems published. The first, Ritual Shift, was published in 1976. Her Collected Poems was edited posthumously by Judith Rodriguez and published in 1990.

Works

Plays

She was first married to John Roberts, having a son in 1965. After separating in 1966, she lived for a time with writer Frank Moorhouse. In 1969, she married painter David Rankin. She died in Melbourne from cancer on 8 November 1979. Her daughter with Rankin, Jessica, later became an artist. Jennifer Rankin Lane in Canberra is named in her honour.