R. A. K. Mason

Ronald Allison Kells Mason was a New Zealand poet. Described by Allen Curnow as New Zealand's "first wholly original, unmistakably gifted poet", he was born in Penrose, Auckland on 10 January 1905. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School, where he met fellow poet A. R. D. Fairburn. Mason was the holder of the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1962. He died in Takapuna, Auckland on 13 July 1971. He is buried at Purewa Cemetery.