BEAT POET ALLEN GINSBERG’S RESURGENCE
Controversial Howl debuts in Feature Film and show of photography
at National Gallery of Art continue legacy
BOULDER, Colo. (September 24, 2010)—The work of the co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, Allen Ginsberg, is seeing a national resurgence with the release of new books on the “Beats,” an exhibition of his photography at the National Gallery of Art, and the upcoming release of the film, Howl. They will introduce Ginsberg to a new generation.
WHAT: Screenings for Howl, a biographical film about poet Allen Ginsberg
and his signature writing “Howl,” considered one of the seminal works of the
Beat Generation.
WHEN: Opens in New York and San Francisco on September 24 and on October 12 in Boulder, Colorado.
Also as a prelude to Howl’s opening in Boulder, the Kerouac School will host a screening of The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg on Oct. 3 at the Performing Arts Center on Naropa University’s Arapahoe Campus, in Boulder, Colorado. Academy Award–nominated director Jerry Aronson will introduce the film and hold a Q&A session. Aronson spent 25 years accumulating more than 120 hours of film on Allen Ginsberg, resulting in this comprehensive portrait of one of America's greatest poets.
Distinguished Professor of Poetics Anne Waldman, a noted writer, performer, and cultural/political activist said of Allen Ginsberg’s relationship with Naropa, “Many things at Naropa acknowledge Allen’s poetry and leadership in the world. The Naropa library is named the Allen Ginsberg Library. We're proud to carry his vision forward. His spirit lives on here in many ways,” she said. “As a school now in its 37th year, we're also a container of a magnificent archive, including many of his most important works. We have a historic recording of Allen reading “Howl” in 1975.”
Waldman was on the set during filming of Howl in New York. “They made a great decision in picking James Franco, in an inspired impersonation of Allen Ginsberg. He (Franco) is himself a poet and scholar of the Beats and brought remarkable attention to this role. It's a labor of love. It's a classy movie. It really captures the period. The soundtrack is smart.” Waldman co-founded Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics with Ginsberg in 1974. The production was nominated earlier this year for the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Drama Prize and the Berlin International Film Festival Golden Berlin Bear Award.
“Beat Memories,” a show of Ginsberg’s photography, is on display through Thursday at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. "I do my sketching and observing with the camera," Ginsberg said in 1993. His photographs form a vivid portrait of the Beat Generation.
At Howl’s opening at the Boulder Theatre on October 12, a panel of noted faculty and alumni from the Kerouac school will discuss the film and their experiences with Ginsberg, as a teacher, friend, and poet. The panel includes Junior Burke, prose writer, dramatist, and lyricist; Lisa Birman, Summer Writing Program director, poet, and lecturer for Naropa’s MFA in Creative Writing; and Jim Cohn, poet, poetry activist, spoken word artist, and early alumnus of the Kerouac School.
The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University was co-founded in 1974 by Ginsberg and Waldman. This internationally celebrated program represents a lineage of experimental poetics, cultural activism, and meditative awareness. Today the Kerouac School encompasses Naropa University’s Department of Writing & Poetics and the Summer Writing Program.
Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. The university comprises a four-year undergraduate college and graduate programs in the arts, education, environmental leadership, psychology, and religious studies.
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