Diane Di Prima

Born in Brooklyn in 1934, Diane di Prima emerged as a member of the Beat Generation in New York in the late ’50s; in the early ’60s, she founded the important mimeo magazine, The Floating Bear, with LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka). In the late’60s, she moved to San Francisco, where she would publish her groundbreaking Revolutionary Letters (1971) with City Lights. She is the author of over 40 books, including Memoirs of a Beatnik, Pieces of a Dream, Recollections of My Life as a Woman, Loba, and The Poetry Deal. She served as San Francisco Poet Laureate from 2009-2011.