Evaleen Stein

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1863, Evaleen Stein spent her life in the city where she first developed her interests in literature and art. She became known as a writer, poet, and illustrator, and sources describe her as the author of eleven story collections and three books of verse.

Stein’s work often centered on children, the natural world, and older legends retold with warmth and simplicity. Indiana University Libraries notes that she trained as an artist and was especially known for decorative work and manuscript illumination, which helps explain the pictorial quality readers often feel in her poems and stories.

Her writing belongs to the rich period sometimes called the Golden Age of Indiana Literature. Though she died in 1923, her books and poems still carry an appealing quietness—thoughtful, imaginative, and closely observed.