Jane Vance Rule CM OBC (28 March 1931 – 27 November 2007) was a Canadian-American writer of lesbian-themed works.

It turned Rule into a reluctant media celebrity, and brought her massive correspondence from women who had never dared explore lesbianism.

Rule became an active anti-censorship campaigner, and served on the executive of the Writers' Union of Canada.

[2] Almost immediately after graduation, she traveled on the ship "Queen Mary"[5] to spend a year in London, following a female lover.

Rule returned to the U.S. to work at the writing department at Stanford University, but she quit after a few months because of "the competitive, commercial atmosphere of the school, the condescending attitude toward women students".

[4] Beginning in 1954, Rule taught at Concord Academy in Massachusetts where she met Helen Sonthoff (September 11, 1916 - January 3, 2000), a fellow creative writing and literature teacher.

[4] Worried about politics and McCarthyism of the 50s in America, Rule moved with her friend and literary critic, John Hulcoop, to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1956.

Sonthoff was recently divorced and went to Vancouver for a vacation, which turned into a life-long relationship with Jane Rule.

It caused Rule to be inundated with letters from desperate women discovering their lesbianism, as well as fearful and chilly reviews surrounding the homosexual theme.

[8] The collection was updated with more writings in 2016, and Helen Sonthoff's papers now also belong to the University of British Columbia.

[9] Rule received the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from Publishing Triangle in 2002.

The ashes of Jane Vance Rule were interred in the Galiano Island Cemetery next to those of her beloved Helen Sonthoff.