Some poets and prose writers associated with the Beat movement in American letters, which gave voice to post-World War II social dissent and cultural nonconformity.
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Gary Snyder (born 1930)
American poet and essayist.
- Wrote The Practice of the Wild and Mountains and Rivers Without End; was the model for Japhy Ryder in The Dharma Bums
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William S. Burroughs (born 1914, died 1997)
American novelist.
- Wrote Naked Lunch and Nova Express; developed the ''''cut-up'''' technique
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Allen Ginsberg (born 1926, died 1997)
American poet.
- Wrote Howl and Kaddish; set William Blake''s poems to music
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Jack Kerouac (born 1922, died 1969)
American novelist and poet.
- Wrote On the Road and The Dharma Bums; known for his spontaneous prose
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Gregory Corso (born 1930)
American poet.
- Wrote The Happy Birthday of Death and Mindfield
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Neal Cassady (born 1925, died 1968)
American railroad brakeman and writer.
- Wrote The First Third; was the model for Dean Moriarty in On the Road
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Herbert Huncke (born 1915, died 1996)
American memoirist.
- Wrote Guilty of Everything
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Peter Orlovsky (born 1933)
American poet.
- Wrote ''''Dick Tracy''s Yellow Hat'''' and ''''Letter to Charlie Chaplin''''
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Tuli Kupferberg (born 1923)
American poet, songwriter and cartoonist.
- Wrote ''''Morning, Morning'''' and 1001 Ways to Beat the Draft
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John Clellon Holmes (born 1925, died 1988)
American novelist and essayist.
- Wrote Go and Nothing More to Declare
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919)
American poet, publisher and painter.
- Wrote A Coney Island of the Mind; founded City Lights Books
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Philip Whalen (born 1923)
American poet and Zen Buddhist priest.
- Wrote On Bear''s Head and Heavy Breathing
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Lew Welch (born 1926, died 1971)
American poet.
- Wrote Ring of Bone; disappeared in the mountains of California
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Michael McClure (born 1932)
American poet and essayist.
- Wrote September Blackberries and Rebel Lions
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Bob Kaufman (born 1925, died 1986)
American poet.
- Wrote The Ancient Rain and Cranial Guitar
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Richard Brautigan (born 1935, died 1984)
American novelist and poet.
- Wrote Trout Fishing in America and In Watermelon Sugar
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Ken Kesey (born 1935)
American novelist and farmer.
- Wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion
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Edward Sanders (born 1939)
American poet, short-story writer, novelist and musician.
- Wrote Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century and Tales of Beatnik Glory
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Ted Berrigan (born 1934, died 1983)
American poet.
- Wrote The Sonnets and Bean Spasms
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Anselm Hollo (born 1934)
Finnish-American poet and translator.
- Wrote Sojourner Microcosms and Finite Continued
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Imamu Amiri Baraka (born 1934)
American poet, playwright and essayist. Original name: LeRoi Jones.
- Wrote Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note and Blues People
