Naked Lunch 50th Anniversary Weekend | North Beach

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Join SFAI Film Department, City Lights, & Grove Press in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the book, Naked Lunch, with a weekend of critical analysis and commemorative readings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Explore the Influence of the Beats upon Burroughs – the literary connection and friendship with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Also explored will be how Naked Lunch relates to Howl and On the Road. Other themes that will be discussed: The trial of Naked Lunch and the obscenity issue. Drugs and Naked Lunch and Burroughs. Burroughs as a father of the counterculture – influence on Lou Reed, Stones, Patti Smith, punk. Burroughs as an experimental writer of the avant garde – connections to surrealism, use of the cut-up.

Friday, November 20th, 2009, 7:00 P.M.

William S. Burroughs: An Evening about the author of The Naked Lunch

Location: SFAI Lecture Hall – 800 Chestnut Street – San Francisco – CA – 94133

Hosted by Jonah Raskin & Peter Maravelis

Opening statements by Lynn Hershman-Leeson, presentations by Bill Berkson, Diane di Prima, Oliver Harris, Ron Loewinsohn, Jonah Raskin, DJ Spooky, and others, followed by a roundtable discussion.

Saturday, November 21, 2009, 1:00 P.M.

From Interzone To The Western Lands: William S. Burroughs Remembered

Location: SFAI Lecture Hall, 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA 94133

hosted by Peter Maravelis

William S. Burroughs and Naked Lunch are remembered by friends and afficionados of his work. Participants: Charles Gatewood, V. Vale, Mel Clay, and Kathelin Gray, to be followed by a sampling of William S. Burroughs films and performance videos.

Sunday, November 22, 2009, 7:00 P.M.

Naked Lunch REDUX

Location: Amnesia Bar, 853 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, in SF’s Mission District

hosted by Peter Maravelis

Local authors read excerpts from The Naked Lunch. Participants: Mindy Bagdon, Craig Clevenger, Stephen Elliot, Marcus Ewert, Daphne Gottlieb, Alan Kauffman, Jon Longhi, Michael McClure, and Johnny Strike.

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.