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Gerald Nicosia

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Gerald Nicosia (born November 18, 1949 in Berwyn, Illinois) is an author, poet, journalist, interviewer, and literary critic. He is based in Marin County, California.[1]

About

He received a B.A. and an M.A. in English and American Literature, with Highest Distinction in English, from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1971 and 1973 respectively.[2]

He has written book reviews for the past 25 years for many major American newspapers, including The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times.

Nicosia is best known as a biographer of Jack Kerouac.[3] He had also been an advocate and supporter of the late Jan Kerouac, Jack's estranged daughter. In January, 2009, Nicosia edited and published Jan Kerouac: A Life in Memory, containing photos and written essays and remembrances about her.[4]

In 2001 Nicosia's book "Home to War" was published and covers the problems faced by Vietnam Veterans returning to an ungrateful nation. It also discusses the battle to stop the use of Agent Orange.[5] In 2020 Nicosia's book "BEAT Scrapbook" was published by coolgrove press. It contains highly personal poems by the author, many of which poems are addressed to Beat literary icons Nicosia knew as colleagues and friends.[6]

Nicosia is currently working on a full-length critical biography of the pioneer black writer Ntozake Shange, which will be published by St. Martin’s Press.

Bibliography

  • Bughouse Blues (Vantage Press, 1977) SBN 533-02531-1
  • Memory Babe (Grove Press, 1983, reprint: University of California Press, 1994) ISBN 0-520-08569-8[7]
  • Lunatics, Lovers, Poets, Vets & Bargirls (Host Publications, 1991) ISBN 0-924047-05-4
  • Home to War (Carroll & Graf, 2001, new edition, 2004) ISBN 0-7867-1403-4
  • Love, California Style (12 Gauge Press, 2002) ISBN 0-9718458-1-6
  • Jan Kerouac: A Life in Memory (Noodlebrain Press, Corte Madera, CA; 2009) ISBN 978-0-615-24554-6
  • One and Only: The Untold Story of "On the Road". Co-authored by Anne Marie Santos (Berkeley: Cleis Press/Viva Editions, 2011) ISBN 978-1-936740-04-8
  • Night Train to Shanghai (Grizzly Peak Press, Kensington, CA; 2014) ISBN 978-0-9839264-3-6[8]
  • The Last Days of Jan Kerouac (Noodlebrain Press, 2016) ISBN 978-0-692-77586-8
  • Kerouac: The Last Quarter Century (Noodlebrain Press, 2019) ISBN 978-0-578-40140-9
  • BEAT Scrapbook (coolgrove press, 2020) ISBN 978-1887276-36-8

References

  1. ^ "Beats Back Bigger Than Ever: An Interview with Gerald Nicosia". Rain Taxi. 2012. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  2. ^ "Night Train to Shanghai". City Lights Books. October 28, 2014.
  3. ^ Corral, Oscar (1998). "Fighting over Jack". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  4. ^ "Jan Kerouac: A Life in Memory". City Lights Books. 2009. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  5. ^ Nicosia, Gerald, Home to War New York, Crown Publishers ISBN 0-8129-9103-6(2001)
  6. ^ Nicosia, Gerald, BEAT Scrapbook Brooklyn, coolgrove press ISBN 978-1887276-36-8(2001)
  7. ^ "Taking the Slow Way Out". The New York Times. July 3, 1983. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  8. ^ Review of Night Train to Shanghai in The Huffington Post (2014)