Madeline Gleason

Madeline Gleason (January 26, 1903 – April 22, 1979) was a United States poet, dramatist, and founder of the San Francisco Poetry Guild.

[1] In 1947, she became the director of the first poetry festival in the United States, laying the groundwork (along with other figures such as Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, William Everson, Jack Spicer, James Broughton, et al.) for what became known as the San Francisco Renaissance.

She was, with Helen Adam, Barbara Guest, and Denise Levertov, one of only four women whose work was included in Donald Allen's landmark anthology, The New American Poetry 1945-1960 (1960).

When her mother died, she and her father moved to Portland, Oregon, where she started working in a bookstore and wrote poetry which she circulated in manuscript form.

However, she continued to give readings and taught creative writing classes, both at San Francisco State University and in her home.