Ina D. (Ina Donna) Coolbrith

Born Josephine Donna Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, Ina Coolbrith came to California as a girl in 1852. She grew up in the American West and later took the pen name Ina Coolbrith, becoming known for lyric poetry that often drew on nature, memory, and California life.

Coolbrith was also an important literary figure beyond her own writing. She worked as a librarian in Oakland and became a central presence in Bay Area literary circles, welcoming and encouraging other writers at a time when California’s cultural institutions were still taking shape.

Her reputation lasted well into the twentieth century, and she was honored as California’s first poet laureate. Today she is remembered not only for her poems, but also for the role she played in nurturing an early California literary community.