John Sinclair

Poet, music critic, manager, promoter, and activist John Sinclair was born in Flint and raised in Davison, Michigan. He earned a BA in American literature from the University of Michigan and completed coursework toward an MA in American literature at Wayne State University, before dropping out to devote himself to creative pursuits.
 
To promote the work of Detroit poets and musicians, he co-founded the Detroit Artists’ Workshop, the Wayne State University Artists’ Society, the Artists’ Workshop Press, and the countercultural live/work commune Trans-Love Energies Unlimited, which served as a cooperative booking agency for revolutionary bands, including MC5.
 
In 1968, with his wife, Leni, and Lawrence “Pun” Plamondon, he founded the White Panther Party in support of civil rights. His work in pursuit of cultural freedom includes support for the legalization of marijuana.
 
Sinclair has published and recorded prolifically, including It’s All Good: A John Sinclair Reader (2008), the poetry collections We Just Change the Beat: Selected Poems (1988) and This Is Our Music (1965), and the music-in-verse collections Fattening Frogs for Snakes: Delta Sound Suite (2002) and Thelonious: a book of monk (1994). He has edited the poetry magazine Work as well as other literary and jazz periodicals and the Detroit Sun newspaper.
 
John Sinclair lives in the Netherlands.