Gerald Nicosia (born November 18, 1949, in
Berwyn, Illinois
Berwyn is a suburban city in Cook County, Illinois, coterminous with Berwyn Township, Cook County, Illinois, Berwyn Civil township, Township, which was formed in 1908 after breaking off from Cicero Township, Cook County, Illinois, Cicero Townshi ...
) is an American author, poet, journalist, interviewer, and literary critic. He is based in
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...
, Tennessee.
About
Nicosia received a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and an
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
American Literature, with Highest Distinction in English, from the
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...
in 1971 and 1973 respectively.
Nicosia has written
book reviews
__NOTOC__
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit.
A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...
for the past 25 years for many major American newspapers, including ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'', ''
The Kansas City Star
''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'', the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'', the ''
Oakland Tribune
The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group.
Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...
'', and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''.
Nicosia is best known as a
biographer
Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography.
Biographers
Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...
of
Jack Kerouac. His highly regarded ''Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac'' (1983) was reissued in March 2022 with new material by Noodlebrain Press. 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.
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.
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.
Nicosia is currently working on a full-length critical biography of the pioneer black writer
Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
, which will be published by St. Martin's Press.
Bibliography
*''
Bughouse Blues'' (Vantage Press, 1977)
*''
Memory Babe'' (Grove Press, 1983, reprint:
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...
, 1994)
* ''
Lunatics, Lovers, Poets, Vets & Bargirls'' (Host Publications, 1991)
* ''
Home to War'' (Carroll & Graf, 2001, new edition, 2004)
* ''
Love, California Style'' (12 Gauge Press, 2002)
* ''
Jan Kerouac: A Life in Memory'' (Noodlebrain Press, Corte Madera, CA; 2009)
* ''
One and Only: The Untold Story of "On the Road'' Co-authored by Anne Marie Santos (Berkeley: Cleis Press/Viva Editions, 2011)
* ''
Night Train to Shanghai'' (Grizzly Peak Press, Kensington, CA; 2014)
Review of Night Train to Shanghai in ''The Huffington Post'' (2014)
/ref>
* '' The Last Days of Jan Kerouac'' (Noodlebrain Press, 2016)
* '' Kerouac: The Last Quarter Century'' (Noodlebrain Press, 2019)
* '' BEAT Scrapbook'' (coolgrove press, Brooklyn, NY, 2020)
References
External links
Official WebsitePEN Oakland Official Website
''The Rag Blog'', April 26, 2012]
Beat Scrapbook Book Review by Jim Feast
Sensitive Skin Magazine
', September 9, 2020
Review of Beat Scrapbook by Jeff Kaliss
''Mill Valley Literary Review''
Issue #19.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicosia, Gerald
American biographers
American literary critics
Living people
1949 births
University of Illinois Chicago alumni
Jack Kerouac
People from Berwyn, Illinois
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
American male non-fiction writers