Allen Ginsberg
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Rare Footage of O’Hara, Ginsberg, Baraka Emerges
Yesterday, avant-garde cinema legend Jonas Mekas posted remarkable archival footage of Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’hara, Amiri Baraka (who still went by Leroi Jones), and Ray Bremser reading together in 1959. The reading, which took place at the Living Theater in…
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Quiller-Couch: Darling Killer
Just in time for the release of Kill Your Darlings, a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg, Slate asks, “Who really said you should ‘kill your darlings’?” The answer: not Ginsberg or William Faulkner, both of whom the quote is often…
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Happy Birthday, Allen Ginsberg!
Happy birthday to groundbreaking Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. He would have been 87 today. Celebrate by re-reading “Howl,” or, if you’re in the Bay Area, by visiting an exhibit of his photography at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl meets Gay Marriage
Yesterday was the 56th anniversary of the day that U.S. customs agents seized some 500 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl on the grounds of obscenity. Yesterday and today, the Supreme Court of the United States heard two cases regarding marriage.…
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Allen Ginsberg, The Photographer
Ginsberg is not typically remembered for his photography, but from 1950 to 1990 he captured hundreds of photographs documenting his life, family, and friends. In “The Photography of Allen Ginsberg,” Roslyn Bernstein discusses going to Ginsberg’s poetry readings during her youth,…
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: First Monday in October
Bob Hicok Says Believe Me: Over at The Believer, Bob Hicok fields a few questions (excerpts only at this point per interviewer Matthew Sherling) about his writing process. Hicok’s takes on on his own process reveal a darling and darting…
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Alden Van Buskirk
At The Poetry Foundation, Garrett Caples writes a moving essay on the life of Alden Van Buskirk, a Vermont born, Dartmouth-St. Louis-Mexico-Oakland raised poet with connections to the Beats and a love for Rimbaud. Van Buskirk (Van, to his friends) published…
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Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso: In Which Heckling Is An Integral Part of Poetry Reading
The 92nd St Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center, an institution of which I have never taken nearly enough advantage, occasionally posts recordings of its old readings. A couple of days ago, they posted this one, of Allen Ginsberg reading a number…
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“Howl” Anniversary
Allen Ginsberg debuted “Howl” at the Six Gallery Reading on October 7, 1955. In 2006, for the 50th anniversary of the poem’s publication, City Lights came out with Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression and The Believer reflected…
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The Rumpus Review of Howl
Howl is neither a biopic about the poem’s author Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), nor does it delve into any other poem in his literary oeuvre. These are the first of many missteps that the producers take in their approach towards the…
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Naked Breakfast
Good Morning. Hungry? Why not listen to William S. Burroughs reading from Naked Lunch? Or how about viewing some of the Naked Lunch manuscript? Or pictures of different editions of the book since its publication in 1959? Or hell, how…
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James Franco’s Face: A Subjective Account of the New Yorker Festival
Friday October 16, the New Yorker opened its annual weekend festival of readings, conversations, art tours and musical performances. This is my account of the events I attended, which included among others a talk with Malcolm Gladwell, readings by George…