This anthology gathers the Beat-period writings of 26 women who were often overshadowed by their male contemporaries, but whose art both shaped the Beat aesthetic and laid the cornerstone for the outlaw female artists of today. Among the featured writers are Jan Kerouac, Joan Haverty Kerouac, Eileen Kaufman, Diane Di Prima, Ruth Weiss, and many others.
And this:
Memoirs of a Beatnik
by Diane Di Prima
Long regarded as an underground classic for its gritty and unabashedly erotic portrayal of the Beat years, Memoirs of a Beatnik is a moving account of a powerful woman artist coming of age sensually and intellectually in a movement dominated by a small confederacy of men, many of whom she lived with and loved. Filled with anecdotes about her adventures in New York City, Diane di Prima’s memoir shows her learning to “raise her rebellion into art,” and making her way toward literary success. Memoirs of a Beatnik offers a fascinating narrative about the courage and triumphs of the imagination.