# Olive Fraser

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{{Short description|Scottish poet (1909–1977)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox poet
|name=Olive Fraser
|image=Olive_Fraser_died_1977.png
|caption=a sketch of her from her papers
|birth_date=20 January 1909|birth_place=Aberdeen|death_date=9 December 1977|death_place=Aberdeen|nationality=Scottish|alma_mater=University of Aberdeen}}

'''Olive Fraser''' (20 January 1909{{sndash}}9 December 1977) was a Scottish poet born in [Aberdeen](/source/Aberdeen). Both her parents emigrated to [Australia](/source/Australia) within a year of her birth, leaving Olive behind with her great-aunt in [Nairn](/source/Nairn). She won the Calder Prize for English verse while studying English at the [University of Aberdeen](/source/University_of_Aberdeen), and the [Chancellor's Medal for English Verse](/source/Chancellor's_Gold_Medal) at [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) in 1935, but did not complete her studies at [Cambridge](/source/Cambridge) for health reasons.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women|first3=Sian|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2006|isbn=0748617132|editor-last=Ewan|editor-first=Elizabeth|location=Edinburgh, United Kingdom|pages=129–130|editor-last2=Innes|editor-first2=Sue|editor-last3=Reynolds|editor-last4=Pipes|editor-first4=Rose}}</ref>

Most of her works were published posthumously.

== Education ==

* Millbank School, Nairn<ref name=":0" />
* Rose's Academical Institution, Nairn <ref name=":0" />
* [King's College, Aberdeen](/source/King's_College%2C_Aberdeen) (graduated 1930)<ref name=":1" />
* [Girton College, Cambridge](/source/Girton_College%2C_Cambridge) (did not graduate due to ill health)<ref name=":0" />

== Poetry ==
The [Scottish Poetry Library](/source/Scottish_Poetry_Library) describes Fraser's style as follows:<blockquote>"... there was a never-extinguished sadness in Fraser’s life: the knowledge that she was an unwanted child. Her mother was cold to her, and her father and his family never recognised her (both parents returned from Australia, but lived apart). All this was reflected in her writing throughout her life, in poems of heartbreaking poignancy ..."<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>Towards the end of her life, Fraser's health improved significantly following successful treatment for [hypothyroidism](/source/hypothyroidism), apparently a significant factor in her earlier depression; in this period which she referred to as 'wonderful years' she "regained energy, and was able to write again [...] she visited friends, went on holidays and continued to produce striking poetry until her death in 1977".<ref name=":0" />

== Notable works ==
* ''Benighted in the Foothills of the [Cairngorms](/source/Cairngorms): January''
* ''The Adder of Quinag''
* ''The Solitaires''<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/olive-fraser|title=Olive Fraser|website=Scottish Poetry Library|access-date=29 Sep 2017}}</ref>
* ''The Wrong Music (collection of Fraser's works, published posthumously, edited by Helena Mennie Shire)''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wrong Music: The poems of Olive Fraser, 1909-1977|last=Fraser|first=Olive|year=1989|editor-last=Shire|editor-first=Helena Mennie}}</ref>
* ''The Pure Account: the poems of Olive Fraser''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Pure Account: the poems of Olive Fraser|last=Fraser|first=Olive|year=1981|editor-last=Shire|editor-first=Helena Mennie}}</ref>''<br />''

== References ==
<!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags, these references will then appear here automatically -->
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [Scottish Poetry Library](/source/Scottish_Poetry_Library) [http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/olive-fraser profile page]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Olive}}
<!--- Categories --->
Category:Scottish women poets
Category:1909 births
Category:1977 deaths
Category:20th-century Scottish poets
Category:20th-century Scottish women writers
Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
Category:Writers from Aberdeen
Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge
Category:20th-century British women poets

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Olive Fraser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Fraser) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Fraser?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.