Wolla Meranda (born Isabella Gertrude Ada Poyitt; 1863 – 12 May 1951) was an Australian novelist, journalist, editor, and artist.
[3] She spent much of her adult life in the small mining town of Sunny Corner, 40 km from Bathurst, where she worked as a schoolteacher.
She often wrote about the natural environment and Australian flora and fauna, and maintained a column, 'Bush Calendar,' for Stephens' magazine The Bookfellow between 1921 and 1922.
Pavots de la Nuit was her first published novel, issued in French by the Parisian firm of Editions Sansot in 1922 and prepared in collaboration with Iann Karmor.
Reviewing the book favourably, one columnist suggested that while its setting was undeniably Australian, ‘the characters, psychology and atmosphere remain Parisian’.
Wolla Miranda's three subsequent published works were in English: Villa of the Isles in 1930, The Red River of Life in 1931 and Light and Outer Darkness in 1935.
[2] She had encountered de Sanary in New Caledonia following the death of her first husband and was inspired by his poetry to campaign for his release and relocation to Australia.
[19] On 5 May 2019, Wolla Meranda was added as a ‘Pillar of Bathurst’, commemorating her as a community member who played a role in that city's history.