Aleta George talked about her book, Ina Coolbrith: The Bittersweet Song of California’s First Poet Laureate, on the poet’s life in California and her influence on future writers. Born in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841, Ina Coolbrith moved to California as a teenager. Inspired by the writings of Edward Pollock and John Rollin Ridge, she took up writing and soon found her work being published at the age of 15.