Lydia Davis (Cook Islands writer)

'''Myra Lydia Davis''' (1919–2000) was a writer in the [[Cook Islands]]. She is known for writing, alongside her husband [[Thomas Davis (Cook Islands politician)|Thomas Davis]], the 1960 novel ''Makutu'', thought to be "perhaps the first novel by South Pacific Island writers."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Lynch |first1=John |last2=Mugle |first2=France |date=1999 |title=English in the South Pacific |url=http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/paclangunit/English_South_Pacific.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206173414/http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/paclangunit/English_South_Pacific.htm |archive-date=2008-12-06 |website=University of the South Pacific}}</ref>

== Biography == Lydia Davis was born Myra Lydia Henderson in 1919 in [[New Zealand]], where she grew up in [[Dunedin]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=April 1979 |title=People |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-337739608/view?sectionId=nla.obj-341074165&partId=nla.obj-337765143#page/n0/mode/1up |access-date=2022-06-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Makutu |url=https://uhawaii-manoa.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay/alma998829454605682/01UHAWAII_MANOA:MANOA |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=UH Manoa Library |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Myers |first=Frances H. |date=1954-10-10 |title=Happy Couple On the Islands |work=The News and Observer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Behymer |first=F.A. |date=1954-08-22 |title=Brave Story Of Doctor Pair On Lone Isle |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch}}</ref> She studied law at the [[University of Otago]] for a period, then trained as a nurse at [[Dunedin Hospital]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1959-02-05 |title=Author To Speak At Dutch Treat |work=The Pocono Record}}</ref>

In 1940, she married [[Thomas Davis (Cook Islands politician)|Thomas Davis]], a medical student at the time, in a secret ceremony due to her wealthy parents' disapproval.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Pickmere |first=Arnold |date=2007-07-27 |title=Obituary: Sir Thomas Davis |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/iobituaryi-sir-thomas-davis/UJTWSB24WRBYHLECHDSP742COU/ |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=NZ Herald |language=en-NZ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Utanga |first=John |title=Sir Tom Davis (1917-2007) |work=TVNZ |url=https://www.tvnz.co.nz/view/tvone_minisite_story_skin/1254918 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016232533/https://www.tvnz.co.nz/view/tvone_minisite_story_skin/1254918 |archive-date=2021-10-16}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=North |first=Sterling |date=1954-10-16 |title=Crusaders In Paradise |work=The Vancouver Sun}}</ref> The couple had three sons: John, Timothy, and Bobby.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1952-11-04 |title=Miru Reaches Boston |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19521104.2.70?query=%22Lydia+Davis%22 |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=The Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 1961 |title=Authors Calling Home |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-322674226/view?sectionId=nla.obj-345289708&searchTerm=%22Lydia+Davis%22&partId=nla.obj-323235753#page/n119/mode/1up |access-date=2022-06-21}}</ref>

She moved with Thomas to his native [[Rarotonga]], in the Cook Islands, where she wrote for various newspapers and magazines in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.<ref name=":2" /> She was influenced and supported in her writing by the American travel writer [[Robert Dean Frisbie]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fuller |first=Edmund |date=1954-09-05 |title=Brave, Gallant Couple |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> In 1952, she drew attention for sailing from New Zealand to the United States in a yacht alongside her husband and two children—while pregnant with their third—a journey she catalogued in dispatches to New Zealand newspapers as well as the ''[[The Saturday Evening Post|Saturday Evening Post]]''.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Eunson |first=Keith |date=1956-07-02 |title=Doctor to the Islands |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19560702.2.82?items_per_page=10&page=3&query=%22Lydia+Davis%22 |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=The Press}}</ref>

Davis co-wrote with her husband the autobiographical ''Doctor to the Islands'', documenting their experiences during Thomas's career as a medical officer, which was published in 1955 and later adapted into a program for the [[BBC]].<ref name=":5" /> The ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' named it an outstanding book of the year.<ref name=":2" /> In 1960, they jointly published ''Makutu'', which has been described as the first known novel by writers in the South Pacific islands.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Subramani |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtNHAAAAYAAJ |title=South Pacific Literature: From Myth to Fabulation |date=1985 |publisher=University of the South Pacific |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Biewer |first=Carolin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xbyCAAAQBAJ |title=South Pacific Englishes: A Sociolinguistic and Morphosyntactic Profile of Fiji English, Samoan English and Cook Islands English |date=2015-05-15 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |isbn=978-90-272-6895-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Lydia and Thomas divorced in 1978, the year he became prime minister of the Cook Islands.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> She died in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Contento |first=William G. |title=Biographical Notes: Page 110 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/c00/c00110.htm#A61 |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=The FictionMags Index}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Lydia}} [[Category:1919 births]] [[Category:2000 deaths]] [[Category:New Zealand women writers]] [[Category:Cook Island writers]] [[Category:Cook Island women]] [[Category:20th-century travel writers]] [[Category:Writers from Dunedin]]