Ida Florence Affleck Graves (March 1902 – 14 November 1999) was a British artist, poet, novelist, and children's writer, and member of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

.Jacqueline Simms (1999
Obituary: Ida Affleck Graves
Independent Online, undated.

Early life

Graves was born in

Mysuru Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

, India, the daughter of Colonel Douglas H. McDonnel Graves, Surgeon, and Mabel Alice Petley.Penelope Hughes-Stanton (1991) The Wood-Engravings of Blair Hughes-Stanton. Pinner:Private Libraries Association. pp.183. Sent to a boarding school in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

, England, at the age of six,Blake Morrison (1994
Poetry discovers a new talent - aged 92: A distant cousin of Robert Graves would like to be a cult
Independent on Sunday, 14 August 1994. Graves was educated from 13 at the Quaker Croham Hurst School, then in Surrey. Separated from her parents, she turned to writing for comfort, writing every day except Sundays.PN Review 131 (1999
Ida Affleck Graves
Volume 26 Number 3, January - February 2000. From Surrey, she went to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

to study English literature, also attending an evening course in sculpture at

Chelsea College of Arts Chelsea College of Arts is a Colleges of the University of the Arts London, constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further education, further and higher educ ...

. In the early 1920s she joined the

Career

In 1929, Leonard and Virginia Woolf's

Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing Imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in London Boro ...

published Graves's first poetry collection, ''The China Cupboard and Other Poems'' (as Ida Graves), with a cover by

Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...

, as No.5 of their ''Living Poets'' series. During this period, Graves additionally supported herself as a reader for the

Stage Society The Incorporated Stage Society, commonly known as the Stage Society, was an English theatre society with limited membership which mounted private Sunday performances of new and experimental plays, mainly at the Royal Court Theatre (whose John Eugen ...

. Graves and artist

Blair Hughes-Stanton Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Woo ...

, who were in a relationship, started the Gemini Press. In 1933, they published their first book together: ''Epithalamion: a poem'', a "sequence of sexual imagery and symbolism" by Graves celebrating their relationship and illustrated by Hughes-Stanton. It won the top literary award at the 1937 Venice Biennale.Reggie Oliver (1999
Ida Graves
Guardian Online, Mon 29 Nov 1999. In 1935 they published their second volume: a book of "sardonic verse" ''Pastoral, or Virtue Requited''. During World War II Graves worked on scenery and costumes for

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

. In 1956, Graves published her semi-autobiographical

stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which ...

novel ''Elarna Cane.'' Graves then entered one of the most productive periods of her life, producing not only the experimental ''Elarna Cane'' and the equally personal ''Willa, You're Wanted'' (1952), but the children's books ''Ostrobogulous Pigs'' (1952), ''Mouse Tash'' (1953), and ''Little Thumbamonk'' (1956), all published by Faber under "Affleck Graves" on their suggestion of adopting a genderless ''nom de plume''. In 1990,Peter Wallis (1999
Ida Affleck Graves
teacher Peter Wallis came across some of Graves' work in East Anglian literary magazine ''Rialto'', and searched her out. He found that she had continued to produce poetry, but that, with some exceptions published in the Samphire New Poetry collections, most of her new work was unpublished. With encouragement from Wallis, Graves published two new collections, ''A Kind Husband'' (1994), and ''The Calfbearer'' (1999), both with Oxford University Press under "Ida Affeck Graves"; the latter collection coming out six months before her death at the age of 97. Her new poetry was well received, and in an interview with poet and author

Blake Morrison Philip Blake Morrison (born 8 October 1950) is an English poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs ''And When Did You Last See Your Father?' ...

, she relished her refound fame, noting "I'd love to be a cult."

Personal life

Graves had two children (Anna and Anthony) with her first husband, Herbert Henry Marks; Anthony died at the age of 27 in an avalanche. Between 1930 and 1950 she was in a relationship with artist

, with whom she had a son Corin (born 1933) and daughter Kristin (born 1935). In 1953, Graves began a relationship with jazz pianist Don Nevard, whom she married in 1995 and who was with her until the end of her life. Graves was the niece of Ada J. Graves and distant cousin of poet and writer

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

through Charles Graves. She is buried in the garden of her home in Stratford St Mary, Suffolk.

Publications

Poetry

Graves, I. (1929). ''The China cupboard and other poems''. London: L & V Woolf at The Hogarth Press Graves, I., & Stanton, B. H. (1934). ''Epithalamion. A poem ... With associated wood-engraving by Blair Hughes-Stanton''. Gemini Press: Higham, Colchester Graves, I. (1942). ''Mother and Child. A poem, etc''. Fortune Press: London Graves, I. A. (1994). ''A kind husband''. Oxford: Oxford University Press Graves, I. A. (1999). ''The Calfbearer''. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Novels (as Affleck Graves)

Graves, A. (1952). ''Willa, you're wanted''. Faber Graves, A. (1956). ''Elarna Cane''. London: Faber & Faber

Children's books (as Affleck Graves)

Graves, A. (1952). ''Ostrobogulous pigs''. Faber Graves, A. (1953). ''Mouse Tash ... With illustrations by Bernard Watson''. London: Faber & Faber Graves, A. (1956). ''Little Thumbamonk''. London: publisher not identified

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Ida Affleck 1902 births 1999 deaths 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British poets 20th-century British women artists Alumni of the University of London Bloomsbury Group British women novelists British women poets People educated at Croham Hurst School People from Mysore Graves family Writers from Mysore British people in colonial India