Lois Beebe Hayna

Born in Idaho, poet Lois Beebe Hayna came of age during the Great Depression in the small village of Vesper, Wisconsin, and was educated at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Hayna, who did not begin writing poetry in earnest until her 60s, explores the intersection of ecological and human cycles in her work. She was the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Moon-Hung Midnights: New and Selected Poems (2015), Casting Two Shadows (2010), Keeping Still (2008), View from Behind the Mirror: New and Selected Poems (1998), and Never Trust a Crow (1990). Her poetry was also featured in Ted Kooser’s syndicated newspaper column, “American Life in Poetry.”

In 2009, Regis University awarded Hayna an honorary PhD. Additional honors include a Colorado Fellowship in the Arts, the inaugural Golden Quill Award from the Friends of Pikes Peak Library District, and service as poet laureate for Colorado Springs. She also served as editor of The Eleventh Muse.

Hayna lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, until her death in 2017. A selection of her papers is kept at Regis University’s Dayton Memorial Library, where the Lois Beebe Hayna Creative Writing Center was dedicated in 2010.