Poets & Writers Theater

“Usually I find something that won’t seem like an unfair end.” Novelist and translator Clemens Setz speaks with Louisiana Channel about the importance of the final sentence in a book, and the various ways authors like Jack Kerouac, John Irving, and Thomas Bernhard have written their last sentences.

Watch this recent movie trailer for Big Sur, based on Jack Kerouac’s novel of the same name, which chronicles the beatnik author’s transition from a rebellious and reluctantly famous young man into an emotionally troubled adult. The book debuted in 1962; Jack Kerouac, born in 1922, died in 1969, only seven years after its publication.

Frank Deford, Jimmy Breslin, and Charlotte Sheedy reflect on the extraordinary life and career of literary agent Sterling Lord, who has represented Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, and countless others, in this video from Open Road Media, the publisher of Lord's new memoir, Lord of Publishing. 

The highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road finally has a trailer. Set to premiere in the U.K. on September 21, director Walter Salles's movie stars Sam Riley as Sal Paradise, Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarity, and Kristen Stewart as Dean's wife Marylou. A release date for the U.S. has not been set.

This clip from early 1967 includes footage of Jack Kerouac shooting pool at the Pawtucketville Social Club in Lowell, Massachusetts, and an audio recording of Kerouac reading the beginning of "San Francisco Scene."