This is a space dedicated to the poet and author Diane di Prima. Please note, this space is not maintained by Diane di Prima, but has been set up in good faith to spread the word about such a unique and extraordinary artist.
Thank you to all those who leave heartwarming personal messages for Ms Di Prima, I regret that I have no contact with her and cannot pass your messages on. I do however encourage you to leave them on the comments page for the reason that perhaps she does check this page from time to time. I am sure she would love to read heartfelt messages from her fans all over the world
The following is a bio taken from the Diane di Prima website.
Diane di Prima was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1934, a second generation American of Italian descent. Her maternal grandfather, Domenico Mallozzi, was an active anarchist, and associate of Carlo Tresca and Emma Goldman. She began writing at the age of seven, and committed herself to a life as a poet at the age of fourteen.
She lived and wrote in Manhattan for many years, where she became known as an important writer of the Beat movement. During that Lime she co-founded the New York Poets Theatre, and founded the Poets Press, which published the work of many new writers of the period. Together with Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) she edited the literary newsletter, The Floating Bear (1961-1969). In 1966 she moved to upstate New York where she participated in Timothy Learys psychedelic community at Millbrook.
For the past thirty-four years she has lived and worked in northern California, where she took part in the political activities of the Diggers, and wrote Revolutionary Letters. She also studied Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Sanskrit and alchemy, and raised her five children. In the 1970s she began her epic poem Loba. of which Parts 1-8 were published in 1978. From 1980 to 1987, she taught Hermetic and esoteric traditions in poetry, in a short-lived but significant Masters-in-Poetics program at New College of California, which she established together with poets Robert Duncan and David Meltzer. She has also taught at California College of Arts and Crafts, and the San Francisco Art Institute. She was one of the co-founders of San Francisco Institute of Magical and Healing Arts (SIMHA), where she taught Western spiritual traditions from 1983 to 1992.
She is the author of 35 books of poetry and prose, including Pieces of a Song (City Lights, 1990). A new expanded edition of Loba (twice as long as the 1978 Wingbow Press edition) was published in the Penguin Poets series in August 1998. Her autobiographical memoir, Recollections of My Life as a Woman, was published by Viking in April 2001. Her work has been translated into at least twenty languages. She has received grants for her poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1993, she received an Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry from the National Poetry Association. In May/June 1994 she was Master Artist-in-Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. In 1999, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from St. Lawrence University. In Spring, 2000, she was Master Poet-in-Residence at Columbia College, Chicago. She is currently one of three poets who have been nominated to be the first Poet Laureate of California. She lives and writes in San Francisco, where she teaches private classes and workshops and does individual consultation and editorial sessions.
The Poetry Deal:(poems from this 1980s and 90s) will be published by Tia Chucha Press (Chicago) in Fall 2002, and a expanded edition of Revolutionary Letters is now available from Last Gasp Press of San Francisco.
Her works in progress include Opening to the Poem, a book of exercises and essays on poetics; Death Poems for All Seasons; Alchemical Studies (poetry); Not Quite Buffalo Stew, a surreal novel about California life; The Mysteries of Vision, a book of essays on H.D.; and One Too Like Thee, a study of Shelley's poetic use of traditional Western magic.
Bruce Connor - 1933-2008 - -R.I.P.
This video is a collage of Diane's great legacy and a wonderful tribute
This edition is the new volume of Diane di Prima's classic Revolutionary Letters (Last Gasp, Febuary 28, 2007). There are some new pieces added in, and new edits on older pieces, by the author.
Available now! Place your order directly via Amazon.com
Or via www.lastgasp.com
Order also from Bird and Beckett
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