The novelist Paul Bowles has died of a heart attack at the age of 88. He had earlier
this month been taken to a hospital in Tangier where he had lived since 1947. Paul Bowles, an elegant expatriate with a refreshing tolerance for human differences and frailties, was a friend and inspiration to many of the younger Beat writers, like William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who followed his direction in finding an oasis from overbearing Western civilization …

I’ve written a lot here about David Amram’s appearances at poetry readings and events recently, but now a more serious event has occurred. The farmhouse where David lives with his family, in Peekskill Valley just north of New York City, has burnt down. The house was not insured, the family is seeking shelter with friends, and a fund has been set up for those who want to help the situation with a small (or large) contribution. The …