Gryphon Gallery: Joyce Anne Marriott

March 4, 2022

Alumni

Stuart Brambley, Archivist Stuart Brambley, Archivist photo

Joyce Anne Marriott was born in Victoria in 1913 and attended GNS (Norfolk House School) from 1929 to 1931.

She was a poet/writer who won the 1941 Governor General’s Award for English-Language, Poetry, or Drama for Calling Adventurers! and is possibly best known for her narrative poem The Wind, Our Enemy which she wrote when she was 26 years old. It chronicles the devastation of drought on the Canadian prairies and is based in part upon her summer holiday experiences during the 1930s.

Other awards include the Women’s Canadian Club Literary Award in 1943, a Koerner Foundation Scholarship in 1956 and the Ohio Award for Educational Broadcasting in 1958. Between 1939 and 1991 she published ten collections of poems and A Long Way to Oregon, which was a collection of short stories. Other anthologies included: Letters from Some Islands, Aqua, Countries, and The Circular Coast.

In addition to her own writing, Joyce Marriott served on the editorial board of Contemporary Verse, a national literary magazine founded in 1941, worked as an editor for the National Film Board in 1945, prepared multiple scripts for the CBC, was the social editor for the Prince George Citizen newspaper, produced radio documentaries for use in schools, and organized several poetry workshops for young, aspiring writers.

Joyce Anne Marriott died following a stroke in 1997 while living in North Vancouver.

This is the twelfth instalment of a series of articles entitled “Gryphon Gallery” created by our School Archivist that provide snapshots that celebrate the achievements of a variety of alumni and staff from throughout the history of GNS.