Ruby Spriggs
1929-2001
Ruby Spriggs - Frogpond, Vol. XI:3, 1988crossing over
the bridge on The Thames
whistle of swan's wings
Born in England, Ruby Spriggs emigrated to Canada
in 1957 where she lived in Montreal and Toronto, finally making her home
in Ottawa, Ontario.
Interested in Asian poetry since the 1970s, Ruby's gift for haiku, tanka and renga quickly became highly respected. Her work appears in leading international journals and anthologies, including The Canadian Haiku Anthology, Erotic Haiku, Anthos, The Haiku Handbook, Round Renga Round, Tanka Splendor, Haiku Moment, The Haiku Hundred, How to Write and Publish Poetry, and Four Seasons. Ruby also earned numerous awards and served as editor for Haiku Canada Newsletter (1990 - 1992), and as co-editor with Dorothy Howard for Raw Nervz, 1994. Among her many talents, Ruby's unique watercolor and oil paintings sold to private collectors, her delicate — and sometimes humorous and imaginary — ink sketches illustrating "The Swan's Wings (a renku with Grant Savage, 1995), Raw Nervz postcards for Haiku Canada as well as other poets' collections. Success, however, never changed this beautiful and gracious woman's modest, kind demeanor. Ever ready to help and encourage others, Ruby shall be long remembered for her generous, loving spirit and for her many and special gifts. Ruby is sadly missed by her four children, several
grandchildren, her beloved companion, Grant Savage, and by those fortunate
enough to know her personally or through her elegant creative works.
Ruby Spriggs - Wind Five Folded: An Anthology of English-Language Tanka, edited bysince we parted Werner and Jane Reichhold, Aha Books, 1994 |
Excerpt of Ruby from full photo
of Haiku Canada 1992 meeting seen later in this memorial sequence