Harold Norse Centennial Celebration and Poem Night | SF

Submitted by the Event Organizer

The Beat Museum will host a celebration for the 100th birthday of Beat poet Harold Norse on July 9th from 7-9 pm.

Celebrate his centennial with appearances by:

• Todd Swindell (editor – I Am Going To Fly Through Glass: Selected Poems of Harold Norse)
• Adrian Brooks (founding member Angels of Light, poet and friend of Norse)
• Jim Nawrocki (author, poet and friend of Norse)
• Tate Swindell (record producer – Harold Norse of Course, live in Amsterdam 1984)

Born in Brooklyn in 1916, Norse was an early member of the Beat Generation and a pioneer among queer writers of the 20th century. Active in the Greenwich Village scene of the 1940s (where James Baldwin was one of his best friends) followed by a brief stint as Tennesse William’s roommate in Provincetown during the summer of 1944, Norse traveled the world in the 1950s and 60s before making San Francisco his permanent home. Harold lived on Albion Street, in the Mission, for 25 years before spending his final years at Hayes Valley Care, where he ultimately passed away, in 2008, at the golden age of 92.

A friend of writers like Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Charles Bukowski, Norse’s work and archives are receiving increased attention from scholars, poetry and queer liberation enthusiasts far and wide.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.