Jane Mayhall Katz (May 10, 1918 – March 17, 2009) was an American poet whose writing first received attention later in life, and was influenced by her transition from her youth in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

to the hustle and bustle of life in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and her grief over the death of her husband. Her poems and other works had been published over the years in many publications, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''.

Personal life and education

Mayhall grew up in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, where she was born on May 10, 1918. She attended

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, where she majored in music, having entered as a talented composer, pianist and singer. There she met fellow student

Leslie George Katz Leslie George Katz (c. 1918 – April 18, 1997) was an author and publisher who founded Eakins Press, a specialty publisher of books of art and literature. Biography Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Katz attended Black Mountain College in North Ca ...

. The two married in the 1940s and moved to New York City.Fox, Margalit
"Jane Mayhall, Poet Who Gained Prominence Late in Life, Is Dead at 90"
''

'', March 19, 2009. Accessed March 19, 2009. With her husband, she was an active participant in New York's

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

community starting in the 1950s, and became friendly with many of the prominent artists at the time. Her husband founded

Eakins Press The Eakins Press Foundation is an American publishing house based in New York established by Leslie George Katz in 1966 and named after the painter Thomas Eakins. Since its founding in 1966, the Eakins Press Foundation has published some of the cl ...

, which published art and literature, including some of Mayhall's works.

Career

Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

''Cousin to Human'' was published by

Harcourt, Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...

in 1960, telling the story of a girl growing up in Louisville. Florence Crowther's review of the book in ''

'' describes how "less adept" authors would have been challenged to make the story believable, but that "Miss Mayhall is a wise author - she has Lacy keep her mouth shut and yet be understood." Her husband's Eakins Press published her 1966 book of plays, poems and stories ''Ready for the Ha Ha & Other Satires'', and the two-volume collection of poetry ''Givers and Takers'' that was published in 1968 and 1973. Her collection of poems ''Sleeping Late on Judgment Day'' was published by

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

in 2004 when she was 85 years old. Many of the works included in the book reflected her grief after the death of her husband, described by Andy Bruner of ''The New York Times'' as including "pain so private in its specificity that it threatens to repel the reader's empathy", while other pieces she "turns away from her sorrow and offers poems with philosophical insights into love and its inevitable loss".Brumer, Andy
"BOOKS IN BRIEF: FICTION & POETRY"
''

'', March 21, 2004. Accessed March 22, 2009. Mayhall died at age 90 on March 17, 2009, in her

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

home. She had no immediate survivors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayhall, Jane 1918 births 2009 deaths Black Mountain College alumni Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from Manhattan American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers Writers from Kentucky 21st-century American women