Gerald Nicosia (born November 18, 1949, in
Berwyn, Illinois
Berwyn () is a suburban city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, Coterminous municipality, coterminous with Berwyn Township, Illinois, Berwyn Township, which was formed in 1908 after breaking off from Cicero Township, Cook County, Illinois, ...
) is an American author, poet, journalist, interviewer, and literary critic. He is based in
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
, Tennessee.
About
Nicosia received a
B.A.
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...
and an
M.A. in
English and
American Literature
American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...
, 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, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...
in 1971 and 1973 respectively.
Nicosia has written
book reviews
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, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...
for the past 25 years for many major American newspapers, including ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', ''
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 M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'', the ''
Oakland Tribune
The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...
'', and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
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
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian ...
. 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
Janet Michelle "Jan" Kerouac (February 16, 1952 – June 5, 1996) was an American writer and the only child of beat generation author Jack Kerouac and Joan Haverty Kerouac.
Early life and career
Janet Michelle Kerouac was born a few months af ...
, 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 faculty ...
, 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