Curation #121 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Where the Road Begins: An Anthology edited by Kathy Devlin et al.

Item #121 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 2007 Cultural Organization of Lowell publication edited by Kathy Devlin, Matthew Miller, LZ Nunn, and Brian Zbriger. It was published in conjunction with Lowell, Massachusetts' 50th anniversary celebration of Kerouac's On The Road. 77 pages, it measures about 5" x 7-1/2" and is in very good condition. The provenance is that Crystal picked this up for free at the 2012 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival (which you can read about here) because she spent $25 on other merchandise.

As co-editor LZ Nunn says in the Foreword, this book is a

tribute to Kerouac's legacy 50 years after On the Road was first published [Note: The scroll was on display in Lowell at this time]. It includes writers who span both the region and the generations, from teenagers to Kerouac contemporaries . . . . (p. ii)

In this book you will find mostly "original and previously unpublished works." There are 9 essays including one by Al Hinkle (Big Ed Dunkel in On The Road) and one by Jami Cassady (Neal's daughter). There are 35 poems including one by musician and Kerouac friend, David Amram. The essays are all related to Kerouac in some manner, while most of the poems are not.

This is a quality little publication and worth having on your Kerouac bookshelf. You can order one from Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! here ($5 alone or free with a $25 purchase).




Below is a picture of Shelf #4 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (15th from the left) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: The Long Slow Death of Jack Kerouac by Jim Christy.

Shelf #4 of my Kerouac bookshelf