Jane Mayhall

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 to the hustle and bustle of life in New York City 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 and The New Yorker.

Personal life and education Mayhall grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where she was born on May 10, 1918. She attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where she majored in music, having entered as a talented composer, pianist and singer. There she met fellow student Leslie George Katz. The two married in the 1940s and moved to New York City. With her husband, she was an active participant in New York's bohemian community starting in the 1950s, and became friendly with many of the prominent artists at the time.

Career Her debut novel Cousin to Human was published by Harcourt, Brace in 1960, telling the story of a girl growing up in Louisville. 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.

Mayhall died at age 90 on March 17, 2009, in her Manhattan home. She had no immediate survivors.