Which Beat Poets Are Still Alive?

Here’s a broad and a short list of who is considered a beat poet or writer.

The BROAD LIST of beat poets living and dead usually includes these writers:

• 
  Bukowski, Charles
  
  Find out about Charles Bukowski, the prolific poet and novelist from Los Angeles who influenced contemporary authors and popular culture with his works like Ham on Rye, Love Is a Dog From Hell, Post Office, and the screenplay for Barfly. Sites feature biography, photographs, his works, bibliography, and tribute pages.


• 
  Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997)
  
  Find sites for Allen Ginsberg, considered one of the Beat generation writers who influenced the cultural transformations of 1960s. Sites offer biography, CBI files, poems, manuscripts, obituaries, and interviews of the poet known for anti-establishment poems such as Howl.


• 
  Baraka, Imamu Amiri (LeRoi Jones)
  
  Find out about Imamu Amiri Baraka (aka LeRoi Jones), the American poet, playwright, music critic, and writer of essays through sites featuring biography, photos, poems, and filmography.


• 
  Bowles, Paul (1910-1999)
  
  Find out about Paul Bowles, the American composer, author, and traveler through sites featuring biography, photographs, excerpts, and interview of the author who was also known for translating the works of a number of Moroccan authors and storytellers.


• 
  Burroughs, William (1914-1997)
  
  Find out about William S. Burroughs, the American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter, and spoken word performer who was a primary member of the Beat Generation known for his semi-autobiographical works. Sites showcase analysis of his works, biography, photos, quotes, obituary, and investigation into the avant-garde master’s ideas on the third mind and cut-ups.


• 
  McClure, Michael (1932- )
  
  Read about Michael McClure, the American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist immortalized as Pat McLear in Jack Kerouac’s novel Big Sur. Sites include poems, essays, online works, quotes, as well as an archive of articles and reviews.


• 
  Snyder, Gary
  
  Find out about Gary Snyder, the American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist who won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book Turtle Island. Sites feature biography, bibliography, photographs, poems, and commentary on his work.


• 
  Ferlinghetti, Lawrence (1919- )
  
  Learn about the American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti who was also the co-owner of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers, the company which published early literary works of the Beat Generation and helped to launch the careers of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Sites include biography, poems, photographs, and archive of his column for the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review.


• 
  Kerouac, Jack (1923-1969)
  
  Learn about Jack Kerouac, the American novelist, poet, artist, and torch bearer of the Beat Generation, a term coined by the maestro himself. Web sites feature biography, review, photographs, excerpts from his writings, research sources, tribute pages, and writing advice from the master storyteller who blended the essence of Jazz and Buddhism to churn out his style of spontaneous and confessional prose.


• 
  Corso, Gregory (1930-2001)
  
  Read about Gregory Corso, the American poet from the Beat Generation who enthralled the readers with his poems like Bomb, Destiny, and Marriage through web sites showcasing his poems, biography, quotes, and reviews.


• 
  levy, d.a. (1942-1968)
  
  Find out about d.a.levy, the American artist, poet, and alternative publisher known for his works like The North American Book of the Dead, Cleveland Undercovers, and Suburban Monastery Poem through sites offering biography, bibliography, poems, essays, and commentary on his unique style of poetry.


• 
  Bowles, Jane (1917-1973)
  
  Find out about Jane Bowles, the American writer and playwright known for her novel Two Serious Ladies and the play In The Summer House through sites featuring biography, catalog of her literary works, photographs, and other resources.


• 
  Duncan, Robert (1919-1988)
  
  Find out about Robert Duncan, the modernist American poet and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance who was known for his works like The Opening of the Field, Roots and Branches, and Bending the Bow through sites offering biography, works, bibliography, and reviews.


• 
  Creeley, Robert
  
  Read about Robert Creeley, the poet, author, and teacher whose work predominantly concerned love and emotions attending intimate relationships. Sites showcase biography, bibliography, poems, audio clips, as well as an interview with the poet who drew his inspiration from Jazz music.


• 
  Gysin, Brion (1916-1986)
  
  Find out about Brion Gysin, the writer, painter, and musician best known for his rediscovery of Tristan Tzara’s cut-up technique and for co-inventing the Dreamachine, a flicker device which produces visual stimuli. Sites offer biography, interview, writings, paintings, and information about the Dreamachine.


• 
  Levertov, Denise (1923-1997)
  
  Learn about Denise Levertov, the British-born, American poet from the Beat Generation whose style has been described as “deceptively matter of fact”. Sites include biography, photographs, review, and poems.


• 
  Di Prima, Diane
  
  Learn about Diane Di Prima, the poet, writer, and teacher from Brooklyn, New York who was one of the most active of women poets associated with the Beat Generation. Sites feature biographical notes, photographs, as well as her letters and poems.


• Patchen, Kenneth (1911-1972)


• 
  Kaufman, Bob (1925-1986)
  
  Discover the improvisational style of poetry by Bob Kaufman, the quintessential Jazz poet from New Orleans, Louisiana whose work embodied the spirit of the Beat Generation. Sites showcase his biography, photographs, poems, and commentary about his work.


• Whelan, Philip

• 
  Rexroth, Kenneth (1905-1982)
  
  Learn about Kenneth Rexroth, the American poet, translator, and critical essayist who is regarded as the chief figure in the San Francisco Renaissance. Sites feature biography, poems, translations, and articles written by the poet who was among the first poets in the United States to explore traditional Japanese poetic forms such as haiku.


• Welch, Lew (1926-?)


• Orlovsky, Peter


• Huncke, Herbert (1915-1996)


• Everson, William (1912-1994)


• Joans, Ted


• Wieners, John


• Holmes, John Clellon (1926-1988)


• Kyger, Joanne


• Hirschman, Jack


• Cowen, Elise Nada (1933-1962)


• 
  O’Hara, Frank (1926-1966)
  
  Discover the iconic “I do this, I do that” style of poetry created by Frank O’Hara, the American poet who was a key member of the New York School of poetry. Sites feature biography, photographs, as well as classroom discussion, historical perspectives, and themes in O’Hara’s work.


• Waldman, Anne


• Cassady, Neal (1926-1968)


• Lamantia, Philip


• Micheline, Jack (1929-1998)


• weiss, ruth

The SHORT LIST of beat poets who lived and wrote together in the 50s and 60s is much smaller. These writers all knew eachother, and they all ended up in Kerouac’s books.

Forrunners to the beats (who influenced the beats)

John Clellon Holmes

Al Hinkle

William Burroughs

Herbert Huncke

Keneth Rexroth

The core beats:

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Neal Cassady

Gregory Corso

Allen Ginsberg

Jack Kerouac

Gary Snyder

Carl Solomon

Peter Orlovsky

Of the core, two are left.

Ferlinghetti is 95 now.

Gary Snyder is 84.

Sources:

Yahoo

The Portable Beat Reader

Which Beat Poets Are Still Alive?