Stevens, Holly, 1924-1992

Dorothy Stevenson was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico to Ethel F. and Frederick R. (Bob) Stevenson. Growing up in Santa Fe during the 1930s, she knew many of the writers, artists, and socialites at the time. Stevenson graduated from Santa Fe High School, attended Gulf Park College in Mississippi and the University of Missouri from where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literary Criticism and Creative Writing. Upon her return to Santa Fe, she wrote for local and state publications and obtained a Teacher's Certificate from the College of Santa Fe. She then taught at St. Michael's High School and later at the Santa Fe Alternative High School. Stevenson published her own creative works and had a lifellong interst in Native American and Spanish American issues. She died 2 February 1992.

Holly Stevens was the daughter of poet Wallace Stevens, and made several important contributions to the study of his life and work. Their relationship was often strained, as he was disappointed in her leaving college before completing her studies at Vassar or the University of Connecticut, and he disapproved of her first husband. Still, she did an excellent job selecting poems for a collection of her father's work, wrote a biography that included her father's early journals, and selected and edited the invaluable Letters of Wallace Stevens. She also had a long career at Yale Review.