Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac was born in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts, to French-Canadian parents, and spoke French at home before learning English at school. He was a talented football player and won a scholarship to Columbia University in New York, but he left after a leg injury and disagreements with his coach. During the Second World War he served briefly in the merchant marine and the navy. In New York he became friends with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassady, writers and wanderers who became known as the Beat Generation. Between 1947 and 1950 he made several journeys across the United States and to Mexico, often by hitchhiking, and he wrote about them in On the Road, famously typing a draft on a long continuous roll of paper in 1951. Published in 1957, the novel follows Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty and made Kerouac famous. His other books include The Dharma Bums, which reflects his interest in Buddhism, and Big Sur. Uncomfortable with fame, he struggled with alcohol and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969.

Jack Kerouac is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Raised by a devout Catholic mother; he was also deeply interested in Buddhism. Source: Wikipedia