Rex Hunter

Maurice Reginald (Rex) Hunter (5 January 1889 – 18 February 1960) was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer. He is best known for his work as a journalist in America (New York, Chicago) as well as for his marriage to the South Carolina poet Gamel Woolsey in the 1920s and his friendships with writers Carl Sandburg, Ben Hecht, John Cowper Powys, E. E. Cummings and Llewelyn Powys.

Hunter was born at Southbrook, Canterbury, near Christchurch. His father, Thomas Hunter, was a local storekeeper and a native of Scotland, and Rex was his fourth child. Rex had two brothers: Justice Hunter and Eric Hunter, and one sister. Rex was educated locally in Christchurch and Canterbury district (Waltham School and Darfield High School), then became a pupil teacher at Waltham School and went on to study and pass Civil Service examinations.

He was appointed cadet for Department of Tourist and Health Resorts on 22 May 1908. He left New Zealand for Sydney, in 1909 (after a transfer) working briefly as Shipping Reporter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph and worked in other parts of Australia. He returned to New Zealand in 1912 near when his father died (in March 1914) and worked for several years at The Press (Christchurch) and in Auckland.

Around 1914, his wanderlust took him next to America via Australia, Fiji and Hawaii. In America he roved from San Francisco to Denver, Kansas to Chicago and then on to New York. He also spent time in St Louis, Missouri, as a scenario writer for motion pictures. In Chicago around 1918, he worked on the Daily News with Carl Sandburg and Ben Hecht. He also had plays produced: Stuff O' Dreams at the Kansas City Music Hall, 19 April 1918 and The Romany Road and The Wild Goose at Chicago's Central Music Hall, 15 February 1919 and 26 April 1919 respectively.

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