Born in Dannevirke , Hawke 's Bay , Edmond survived the 1931 Napier earthquake as a child . Trained as a teacher , she raised a family before publishing the poetry she had privately written throughout her life . Following her first book , '' In Middle Air '' , written in 1975 , she published many volumes of poetry , a novel , an autobiography ( '' Hot October '' , 1989 ) and several plays . Her '' Selected Poems '' ( 1984 ) won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize
Napier earthquake
1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake
Lauris Edmond