In remembrance: Phyllis Koestenbaum

Poet and writer Phyllis Koestenbaum joined the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (an earlier name for the Clayman Institute) in the 1980s as part of its Affiliated Scholars program, a group she would chair from 1991-93.

For more than 30 years, Koestenbaum shared her strengths as a teacher, writer, and lecturer with Stanford and the Institute community, as an affiliated scholar and later a senior scholar. She frequently published poetry and short fiction during this time, and also taught poetry through the Stanford Continuing Studies program, West Valley College, and various poetry workshops.

“She communicates sensitively and convincingly about the condition of women’s lives, variously defined, and the interaction between our affective and social experiences,” the Institute Newsletter noted in an introduction to Koestenbaum's work.

She received grants for her work from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Arts Council of Santa Clara County, and others. She spent time in residence as a senior fellow at MacDowell, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Djerassi Foundation. Koestenbaum published a number of books, including oh i can't she says, Hunger Food, Doris Day and Kitschy Melodies, and Criminal Sonnets. She twice had work published in the Best American Poetry series.

Koestenbaum died in February 2025. The Clayman Institute remembers her contributions to the arts and her presence within our community.