Gary Snyder and friends join up to pay tribute to the memory and mystery of legendary Beat poet Lew Welch.

Celebrating the release of Ring of Bone: Selected Poems by Lew Welch

foreword by Gary Snyder

published by City Lights Books

Lew Welch was a brilliant and troubled poet, legendary among his Beat peers. He disappeared in 1971, leaving a suicide note behind. Ring of Bone collects poems, songs, and even a few drawings, documenting the full sweep of his creative output, from his early years until just before his death. First published by legendary poetry editor Donald Allen, this new and expanded edition includes a biographic timeline and a statement of poetics gleaned from Welch's own writing.

Gary Snyder is a poet who was associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance in his early years.  He is also known as an essayist, environmental activist, post-humanist scholar, long-time student of East Asian and Native American cultures, and practicing Buddhist.  Snyder has translated from literary Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder served as a faculty member at the University of California, Davis, and was on the board of the California Arts Council in the seventies.  He lives in a hand-buiilt house in the northern California Sierra.  Snyder was a close friend of Lew Welch, and Lew was camping on Snyder's land in the mountains when he chose to disappear.

In addition, Joanne Kyger, whose powerful poetic life started in the company of Snyder, Welch, and Philip Whalen, and Tom Killion, who long studied Lew's life and works, will pay tribute to Lew.

This event will be held in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Public Library's main branch. 100 Larkin St. San Francisco, CA 94102. Please call 415-557-4400