Ina Coolbrith

Gary Scharnhorst (University of New Mexico)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

Born 10 Apr 1841
Died 29 Feb 1928
Activity 1856-1928

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Editor
Poet

Resources

Coolbrith's Works

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Ina Coolbrith was born in 1841 in Nauvoo, Illinois, to Mormon parents. Moving with her family to California in 1851, she began to publish poetry five years later. One of the so-called “Golden State Trinity” of poets (with Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard), she was a prominent contributor in the late 1860s and 1870s to the

Overland Monthly

. By the late 1870s, she had earned a national reputation, and her verse appeared regularly in such magazines as

Galaxy, Putnam's, Scribner's,

and

Harper's Weekly

. As Librarian of the Oakland Free Public Library between 1874 and 1893, she met and mentored the young Isadora Duncan, Jack London, and Mary Austin, and in her salon she met and encouraged Charlotte Perkins Stetson (nee Gilman), Joaquin Miller, and Edwin Markham. She was named the…

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327 words

Citation: Scharnhorst, Gary. "Ina Coolbrith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1004, accessed 03 December 2024.]