Mormon Literature Database - Munk, Margaret Rampton

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Margaret Rampton Munk The daughter of Utah’s three-term governor Calvin L. Rampton and Lucy Beth Cardon, Margaret “Meg” Rampton Munk grew up “in a family of Mormon pioneer ancestry.” After graduating from the University of Utah, where she first began writing poetry, Meg went to Harvard for graduate work in political science. She met Russell Munk while working in Washington, D.C., following her freshman year of college, and they were later married while in graduate school. Russ’s work took them to Japan for two years and then to the Philippines for five. Meg taught political science classes at Jesuit universities in both Tokyo and Manila. While in the Philippines, the Munks adopted their children Laura and Dan, and Meg’s focus became her family. Most of her poems dealt with her personal experiences, and several were published in Exponent II. After returning to the United States, the Munks adopted a third child, Andrew. In 1983, Meg was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After undergoing surgery and a year of chemotherapy she wrote the poem sequence “One Year.” The cancer proved fatal in 1986. Her collection of poetry, So Far (1986), was published just before her death. Beginning in 1990 Dialogue inaugurated the Margaret Rampton Munk award in poetry. [adapted from Discoveries: Two Centuries of Poems by Mormon Women, 109-10] Included in 75 Significant Mormon Poets View Works by this Person
Also Known As	Margaret R. Munk; Margaret Munk
Birth Date	1941
Death Date	July 7, 1986
Education	University of Utah M.A., Ph.D. (Political Science) Harvard University
Career	Editor of the University of Utah's Daily Utah Chronicle. After graduating from Harvard, taught political science at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and American University in Washington D.C. She served on the editorial board of Dialogue
Awards	Honorable Mention, D.K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest, 1985, for story, "A Proposal" appeared in 1986
Personal Statement	A devoutly religious person, active in the Mormon church and mother to three children, Meg never abandoned her writing which revealed a belief that, in every aspect of life, questions are essential. [Sunstone tribute, 10.12 (Oct. 1986) p. 42]
Other Biographical Information	See the tributes written about Margaret Munk by Karen Rosenbaum and Mary Bradford

Works by Margaret Rampton Munk Sort by title	Year	Genre
Saints for All Seasons	1982	Criticism
Carefully Crafted Cocoon	1981	Criticism
Service Under Stress: Two Years As a Relief Society President	1986	Personal Essay
For Dad and Mother	2004	Poetry
A Skeptic's Prayer	1990	Poetry
For Russ	1989	Poetry
October Prayer	1989	Poetry
For Christa McAuliffe: You won a passport	1986	Poetry
For Corazon Aquino	1986	Poetry
In a Baltimore Variety Store	1986	Poetry
So Far: Poems	1986	Poetry Collection
One Year	1985	Poetry
Three Portraits of Women from the Old Testament: Hagar, Esther, Hannah	1974	Poetry
First Grief		Poetry
For My Baby: A Postscript to Wordsworth		Poetry
Kinship		Poetry
Mother's Day		Poetry
Mother's Day		Poetry
Psalm: A Skeptics Prayer		Poetry
Sonnet in a Moment of Truth		Poetry
Stars		Poetry
Two Children		Poetry
A Proposal	1986	Short Story
An Historical Vignette	1985	Short Story
Searching	1981	Short Story
The Fire	1979	Short Story
Caridad		Short Story