San Francisco Renaissance

A constellation of writers and artists active in the San Francisco Bay Area at the end of World War II, including Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, Robin Blaser, Jack Spicer, and Michael McClure.

Although known primarily among a coterie of poets in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of his death in 1965, over time, Jack Spicer has become a towering figure in American poetry. His numerous poetry...

Songwriter, playwright, poet, artist, and photographer Helen Adam was born in Glasgow, Scotland and studied at Edinburgh University before moving to the United States in 1939. As a teen in Scotland, she established...

Beat poet, playwright, novelist, and documentary filmmaker Michael McClure was born in Marysville, Kansas, and raised there and in Seattle. Educated at the University of Wichita, the University of Arizona,...

Described by Kenneth Rexroth as “one of the most accomplished, one of the most influential” of the postwar American poets, Robert Duncan was an important part of both the Black Mountain school of poetry, led...

Poet, editor, and essayist Robin Blaser is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Nomad (Slug Press, 1995), Syntax (Talonbooks, 1983), Cups (Four Seasons Foundation, 1968), and The Moth Pœ...

Kenneth Rexroth was born in South Bend, Indiana and frequently moved around the Midwest during his childhood. He led a tumultuous life that included being orphaned at 14, constant traveling both in the US ...

Gary Snyder began his career in the 1950s as a noted member of the “Beat Generation,” though he has since explored a wide range of social and spiritual matters in both poetry and prose. Snyder’s work blends...