Emma Frances Dawson (1839–1926) was an American poet and writer of supernatural fiction.
Dawson was born in New England, but by 1880 was living in California, eventually in San Francisco, the setting for most of her stories. Following the 1906 earthquake, she moved to Palo Alto.
Dawson wrote short stories and poems, originally printed in regional publications such as the Argonaut and Overland Monthly. Most of her fiction was reprinted in a collection An Itinerant House, and Other Stories (see references). The work is notable not just for its merit as atmospheric supernatural fiction, but for its detailed description of 19th century San Francisco. Ambrose Bierce, who seems to have been a mentor to Dawson in her literary efforts, praised her work as some of the best being written in the West Coast and representative of the region (as well as having similar high praise for verse).
Despite critical praise and local celebrity status (she was often invited to give public readings of her poems), she struggled to make a living as a writer; reprinting one of her poems, an 1898 newspaper [1] reported she was "so poor that she could not pay her rent last week till the recipient of $50 at the hands of (San Francisco) Mayor Phelan."
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(help)Bret Harte was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush.
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state.
The Overland Monthly was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
Yda Hillis Addis was the first American writer to translate ancient Mexican oral stories and histories into English, some of which she submitted to San Francisco-based newspaper The Argonaut. The most widely popular of her more than 100 stories are Roman's Romance and Roger's Luck.
The Argonaut was a newspaper based in San Francisco, California from 1878 to 1956. It was founded by Frank Somers, and soon taken over by Frank M. Pixley, who built it into a highly regarded publication. Under Pixley's stewardship it was considered "the leading literary production of the San Francisco press and was a powerful influence in State and municipal politics."
Milicent Washburn Shinn was a writer, editor, and child psychologist. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She entered the State University in September 1874 and finished her undergraduate degree in 1880. She was one of three student speakers at the commencement. She edited the Overland Monthly from 1882 to 1894. She received her Ph.D. in 1898 at the age of 40.
"The Heathen Chinee", originally published as "Plain Language from Truthful James", is a narrative poem by American writer Bret Harte. It was published for the first time in September 1870 in the Overland Monthly. It was written as a parody of Algernon Charles Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon (1865), and satirized anti-Chinese sentiment in northern California.
Camilla E. L. Kenyon was an American author of two novels and several short works. Her first novel was Spanish Doubloons, originally published in 1919 by Bobbs Merrill, also serialized in Munsey's Magazine and republished in a less-costly hardback edition by the A. L. Burt Company. This lively story of a group of treasure hunters on a Pacific island is told from the first person viewpoint of the heroine. It is widely available today as a free e-book from numerous sites, and it has also been reprinted in a paperback edition.
Josephine Spencer was an American writer, journalist, and political activist from Utah. She was an important figure in the Mormon Home Literature movement of the late 19th century who published more than a hundred poems fifty short stories, and five serialized novels in both regional and national publications. Latter-day Saint literary critics Ardis E. Parshall and Michael Austin have called her "the most significant figure in Mormon letters that most people have never heard of."
Frances Auretta Fuller (Barritt) Victor was an American historian and historical novelist. She has been described as "the first Oregon historian to gain regional and national attention." She was known for her books about the West and especially Oregon history.
Frona Eunice Wait (1859–1946) was an American writer and journalist. From her beginning as a journalist, she rose to become an associate editor for the Overland Monthly.
Emelie Tracy Young Swett was an American author, editor, poet and translator. She wrote both prose and verse, and in her literary work was often employed by publishers to translate French and German articles and books. She was at one time employed as the private secretary of a publishing house, and in this capacity she developed executive abilities. In 1889, she married John W. Parkhurst, an employee in the Bank of California. Swett contributed largely to the magazines and papers of the Pacific Coast. Her literary work included translations from Greek, French and German and some finished poems of high merit. She dramatized Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona. She founded the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association. She supported suffrage. For a year before her death, at the age of 29, she was assistant editor of the Californian Illustrated Magazine. Swett died in 1892.
Anna Blake Mezquida was an American writer, poet, and journalist based in San Francisco.
Marian Adele Longfellow O'Donoghue was an American writer, one of the founders of the National League of American Pen Women, in 1897.
Pacific Coast Women's Press Association was a press organization for women located on the West Coast of the United States. Discussions were not permitted regarding politics, religion, or reform. The members of the association took on causes related to certain public improvements in the way of roads, streets, parks, libraries, village improvement societies, free exhibits of county resources, the suppression of criminal details of sensational cases in newspapers, the suppression of criminal advertising, and school development. To facilitate the work, the association issued printed monographs.
Flora Haines Loughead was an American writer, farmer, and miner from Wisconsin. She became the "Opal Queen" of Virgin Valley. Flora's son, Allan was the founder of American aerospace company the Lockheed Corporation.
Ruth Belle Willey Gue was an American writer and clubwoman, based in San Diego in later life. She wrote poetry, stories, and articles for magazines and newspapers, and published about a dozen books.
Frances Margaret Milne was an Irish-born American author and librarian of the long nineteenth century. Her works included, For to-day : poems (1893); A cottage gray and other poems (1895); Heliotrope (1897); Our little roman. verses of childhood. (1902); and Passing of the village (1902). She died in 1910.
Charles Howard Shinn was a horticulturalist, author, inspector of California Experiment Stations, and forest ranger in California.
Stella Wynne Herron was an American writer and suffragist whose work appeared in a variety of magazines, including Collier's, Sunset, and Weird Tales. She is most known for her 1916 short story "Shoes", which pioneering film director Lois Weber adapted into a film of the same name. The film is now considered a feminist classic in early cinema history.