The Berkeley Poetry Conference was an event in which individuals presented their views and poems in seminars, lectures, individual readings, and group readings at California Hall on the campus of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

during July 12–24, 1965. The conference was organized through the University of California Extension Programs. The advisory committee consisted of

Thomas Parkinson Thomas F. Parkinson (1920–1992) Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, was a poet in his own right; an expert on the poetry of W. B. Yeats; and one of the first academic authorities to write about the Beat poets and n ...

, Professor of English at U.C. Berkeley, Donald M. Allen, West Coast Editor of

Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United Sta ...

, Robert Duncan, Poet, and Richard Baker, Program Coordinator.

Roster

The roster of scheduled poets consisted of:

Robin Blaser Robin Francis Blaser (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an author and poet in both the United States and Canada. Personal background Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1944. There he met Ja ...

Robert Creeley Robert White Creeley (May 21, 1926 – March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. He was close with Char ...

, Richard Duerden, Robert Duncan,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Leroi Jones Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...

(Amiri Baraka),

Joanne Kyger Joanne Kyger (November 19, 1934 – March 22, 2017) was an American poet. The author of over 30 books of poetry and prose, Kyger was associated with the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beat Generation, Black Mountain, and the New Y ...

, Ron Loewinsohn,

Charles Olson Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York ...

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

Jack Spicer Jack Spicer (January 30, 1925 – August 17, 1965) was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, ''My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer'' won the American Book Award for poetry. ...

, George Stanley,

Lew Welch Lewis Barrett Welch Jr. (August 16, 1926 – May 1971?) was an American poet associated with the Beat generation literary movement. Welch published and performed widely during the 1960s. He taught a poetry workshop as part of the University of C ...

, and

John Wieners John Joseph Wieners (January 6, 1934 – March 1, 2002) was an American poet. Early life Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Wieners attended St. Gregory Elementary School in Dorchester, Massachusetts and Boston College High School. From 1950 to 195 ...

. Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) did not participate;

Ed Dorn Edward Merton Dorn (April 2, 1929 – December 10, 1999, aged 70) was an American poet and teacher often associated with the Black Mountain poets. His most famous work is '' ''Gunslinger'. Overview Dorn was born in Villa Grove, Illinois. ...

was pressed into service.

Seminars

*July 12 – July 16, Gary Snyder *July 12 – July 16, Robert Duncan *July 19 – July 23, LeRoi Jones (scheduled) *July 19 – July 23, Charles Olson

Poets

*July 12, New Poets *July 13, Gary Snyder *July 14, John Wieners *July 15, Jack Spicer *July 16, Robert Duncan *July 17, Robin Blaser, George Stanley and Richard Duerden *July 19, New Poets *July 20, Robert Creeley *July 21, Allen Ginsberg *July 22, LeRoi Jones *July 23, Charles Olson *July 24, Ron Loewinsohn, Joanne Kyger and Lew Welch

Lectures

*July 13, Robert Duncan, ''Psyche-Myth and the Moment of Truth'' *July 14, Jack Spicer, ''Poetry and Politics'' *July 16, Gary Snyder, ''Poetry and the Primitive'' *July 20, Charles Olson, ''Causal Mythology'' *July 21, Ed Dorn, ''The Poet, the People, the Spirit'' *July 22, Allen Ginsberg, ''What's Happening on Earth'' *July 23, Robert Creeley, ''Sense of Measure''

Readings

*July 13, Gary Snyder, introduced by Thomas Parkinson. *July 14, John Wieners, introduced by Robert Creeley. *July 15, Jack Spicer, introduced by Thomas Parkinson. *July 16, Robert Duncan, introduced by Thomas Parkinson. *July 17, Robin Blaser, George Stanley, Richard Duerden, introduced by Robert Duncan. *July 18, Young Poets: Jim Boyack, Robin Eichele, Victor Coleman, Bob Hogg, Stephen Rodefer, David Franks, introduced by Victor Coleman. *July 19, Special Poetry Reading: John Sinclair, Lenore Kandel, Ted Berrigan, Ed Sanders, introduced by Allen Ginsberg. *July 20, Ed Dorn, introduced by Robert Creeley. *July 21, Allen Ginsberg, introduced by Thomas Parkinson. *July 22, Robert Creeley, introduced by Robert Duncan. *July 23, Charles Olson, introduced by Robert Duncan. *July 24, Ron Loewinsohn, Joanne Kyger, Lew Welch, introduced by Robert Duncan. *July 25, Young Poets from the Bay Area: Gene Fowler, Jim Wehlage, Eileen Adams, Doug Palmer, Sam Thomas, Gail Dusenbery, Drum Hadley, Lowell Levant, Jim Thurber, introduced by Gary Snyder. There was a reading by David Bromige, David Schaff,

James Koller James Koller (May 30, 1936 – December 10, 2014) was an American poet. He spent his early life in northern Illinois, and the 1960s on the Pacific Coast. In the early-1970s he moved to Maine, where he lived until his death while traveling acros ...

and Ken Irby, but the tape has been lost. Among the younger poets who attended the conference but did not perform were Maria Damon,

Ron Silliman Ron Silliman (born August 5, 1946) is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman wr ...

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

, and Lewis Warsh.

Louis Simpson Louis Aston Marantz Simpson (March 27, 1923 – September 14, 2012) was an American poet born in Jamaica. He won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work ''At the End of the Open Road''. Life and career Simpson was born in Jamaica, the so ...

cited the conference when he resigned his position at Berkeley. During this event, Charles Olson was designated President of Poets, and Allen Ginsberg, Secretary of State of Poetry. Robert Creeley remarked, "There will never be another poetry conference in Berkeley; Berkeley is too bizarre."

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