More than half a century ago, Jack Kerouac sat down at his typewriter with a pot of coffee, a pile of Benzadrine and a head full of ideas. Three weeks later, he'd finished a semi-autobiographical tale about the spontaneous road trips he took with his friends across 1950's America, what was soon to become a literary staple for generations of disaffected American youths, not to mention one of the classics of 20th-century American literature. This Friday, various luminaries from around the Bay area celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road in a similarly energetic, balls-out fashion with JackFest!, a 12-hour marathon reading of the book hosted by the Tampa Bay Writers Network and USF-St. Petersburg's Division of Languages, Literature and Writing. Clove cigarettes not included. Fri., Oct. 19, noon-midnight, USF-St. Petersburg, in the courtyard flanked by Snell and Williams houses on Second Avenue S. (between Fifth and Sixth avenues), St. Petersburg, free admission, 727-873-4873.
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2007.