About the Conference Conference Schedule Speakers Exhibit Accommodations/Dining Directions Home Bob Donlon, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Robert LaVigne, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (left to right) in front of City Lights Books in San Francisco. Photo by Peter Orlovsky, courtesy of the Ginsberg Trust.	About the Conference When Lawrence Ferlinghetti graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1941, little did he or his professors foresee that someday he would become a key figure in one of the most significant literary movements of the twentieth century. The Beats, as members of this movement were called, were a group of mid 20th-century poets and novelists known for their freewheeling approach to both life and literature. It is only appropriate that Ferlinghetti's alma mater would become one of the foremost repositories of the Beat literary movement, in which he was so influential as both artist and publisher. On April 2 and 3, 2004, UNC-Chapel Hill's Library will mark a decade of collecting Beat and American avant-garde literature by sponsoring a conference entitled "The Beats in America: Alternative Visions, Then and Now." Through performances, panels, and lectures, the weekend conference will honor the lives and writings of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Michael McClure, David Amram, and Diane di Prima, among others. UNC's conference on the Beats will feature performances by poet Michael McClure and musician David Amram; a keynote lecture by Kerouac biographer Ann Charters; and a screening of the 1959 underground film Pull My Daisy, with commentary by David Amram, who wrote the score and performed in this Beat classic. The conference will also include lectures and discussion by important alternative publishers, and a panel on current Beat scholarship. An exhibition of books, manuscripts, and photographs, "Lines Drawn in the Sand: The Life and Writings of Allen Ginsberg," will serve as a companion piece to the conference. Highlighting the newly acquired Ginsberg materials, "Lines Drawn in the Sand" will be on run March 24 through July 15, 2004 in the Rare Book Collection (Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Area, third floor Wilson Library). The exhibit will be open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., except holidays. For questions, directions or additional information call: 919-962-1143 Admission to all events is free.
	This Conference is cosponsored by the UNC Library and the North Carolina Writers' Network