McGill Libraries
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Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Skelton, Robin, 1925-1997
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1925-1997
History
Robin Skelton was born October 12, 1925, at Easington, East Yorkshire, England.
He was a British-born academic, writer, poet, critic, and anthologist. He was educated at the University of Leeds (B.A., 1950; M.A., 1951). From 1944 to 1947, he served with the Royal Air Force in India. He later taught at Manchester University (1953-1962), where he was a founding member of The Peterloo Group. In 1963, he emigrated with his family to Canada and began teaching at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where he founded the Department of Creative Writing. Skelton was an authority on Irish literature. He was also well known for his work as a literary editor, a founder and editor with John Peter of The Malahat Review, and a translator. Being a practising Wiccan, Skelton also published several books on the subject of the occult and other neopagan religions. He was the author of numerous collections of poems and books of fiction.
In 1957, he married Sylvia Mary Jarrett (1927-1998). He died on August 22, 1997, in Victoria, British Columbia.