We’re thrilled to announce the release of The Buddhist Years: Collected Writings—a powerful new volume of never-before-published work from Jack Kerouac, now available from Sal Paradise Press and Rare Bird Books in partnership with The Estate of Jack Kerouac.

Dennis McNally’s The Last Great Dream (Da Capo, 2025) won’t help you recreate the 1960s – that ship has sailed. But McNally’s new book provides a clear-eyed, rear-view mirror exploration of the mid-20th century counterculture in the United States. From poetry to politics to psychedelic music, McNally covers a wide waterfront; The Last Great Dream is a wild ride full of factoids and true folk tales from far and wide. It’s a fun and informative read for anyone intrigued by the era. In certain circles, Dennis McNally is best known as the Grateful Dead publicist from the mid-1980s until several years after Jerry Garcia died. He’s also a published historian, with books under his belt about Jack Kerouac, the Grateful Dead, and the evolution of American culture.

Multi-Platinum, GRAMMY-winning artist Zach Bryan has purchased the historic former Saint Jean Baptiste Church building in Lowell, Massachusetts, ensuring its transformation into the previously announced Jack Kerouac Center. The project was initially announced in November 2022, but stalled amid the COVID-19 pandemic and funding issues.

A stunning new mural commemorating legendary Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac will be officially unveiled at St. Jean Baptiste Church on Sunday, October 13th, from 11AM to 1PM as part of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. The former church, where Kerouac once served as an altar boy, is the proposed future home of the Jack Kerouac Center, a cultural hub dedicated to celebrating the life and work of the acclaimed author.

Rare Bird Books and Sal Paradise Press announce the latest release in their partnership and collaboration with The Estate of Jack Kerouac. Self-Portrait: Collected Writings is the ultimate collection of previously unpublished writing culled from the Kerouac archive spanning Jack Kerouac’s adult life.

The insights and quotes assembled in this book have been woven into a patchwork of reoccurring themes found throughout Kerouac’s writings, such as adventure, life, self-reflection, and spirituality are heavily featured, but more niche quotes around topics like cats, coffee, music, and sports can also be found. This collection pulls from his novels as well as some of his selected short stories, poems, letters, and journals.

THE JACK KEROUAC FOUNDATION is offering the public a glimpse of its vision for the former Catholic church it hopes to develop into The Jack Kerouac Center, a performance venue, museum, educational center, and bookstore/café.
 

One hundred years after the birth of Beat pioneer Jack Kerouac, the Jack Kerouac Estate announces the formation of Sal Paradise Press and a new collaboration with Rare Bird to co-publish a new deluxe hardcover of collected works from Kerouac’s time in isolation, Desolation Peak. Authored by Jack Kerouac and edited by Charles Shuttleworth, Desolation Peak is a posthumous collection for long-time Kerouac fans and newcomers alike.

This past weekend, Lowell and the world marked the centennial birthday of writer, Jack Kerouac, but the celebrations are just beginning.

“What’s your road, man? – holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road.” – Jack Kerouac

For Beat writer Jack Kerouac, author of the legendary novel “On The Road,” the journey began and ends in Lowell.

Jean-Louis “Jack” Kerouac was born on March 12, 1922, into a French-speaking family in Lowell. After his death in Florida in 1969, his funeral was held in Lowell’s St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church, and he was laid to rest nearby in Edson Cemetery.