Ina Coolbrith

Ina Donna Coolbrith, born Josephine Donna Smith on March 10, 1841, in Nauvoo, Illinois, was an important figure in the literary community of 19th- and early 20th-century San Francisco. She is the author of The Singer of the Sea (The Century Club of California, 1894) and Songs from the Golden Gate (Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., 1895). Though the earthquake and fire of April 1906 destroyed her house and manuscripts-in-progress, she remained a prominent figure in the literary community. She served as the first poet laureate of California from 1915 until her death on February 29, 1928, in Berkeley, California.