TWHP


Ina Coolbrith, 1841-1928   

The first Poet Laureate of California, Ina Coolbrith brought a unique authenticity to the role. After coming across the plains as a child in a covered wagon, her family settled in then-sleepy Los Angeles, where she published her first poems. After leaving her husband and losing her child in the early 1860s, the disconsolate poet moved to the San Francisco area, where she began to influence the local literary scene. She encouraged Joaquin Miller to affect that name after abandoning his own, as well as helping to contrive the outrageous Old California costumes he wore when he performed readings; she made him a star. She also claimed Mark Twain and Bret Harte as friends. Appointed a librarian in Oakland, she continued to foster literary talents in the region, and she, more than anyone alse, perhaps, encouraged the young Jack London to pursue his education and writing. Her devotion to local obligations kept her from heading east where she might have achieved fame and fortune, and the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed what little she had in the way of worldly goods. She was named Poet Laureate in 1915, and ended her life an object of charity, supported by a succeeding generation of writers.


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