Spring and Autumn Annals: A Celebration of the Seasons for Freddie

• Never-before-published memoir written during di Prima's residence in early 60s New York City.

• An illuminating snapshot of a young, female, bohemian artist in Greenwich Village.

• di Prima was a gifted writer deeply entrenched in the Beat-era scene.

• City Lights will simultaneously publish a new expanded edition of di Prima's influential book of poetry, Revolutionary Letters • .

• Both Spring and Summer Annals • and Revolutionary Letters • will be published on the one-year anniversary of di Prima's passing, October 2021.

• S pring and Summer Annals • details di Prima's relationships with several well-known artists in New York including the dancer Freddie Herko, who performed in Andy Warhol's early films and was part of The Factory.

• Herko and di Prima were cultural pre-cursors to literary and artistic couples like Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith, setting the stage for their creative kin.

• The book also details di Prima's relationship with the revolutionary poet LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka).

Spring and Summer • offers a fascinating look into the legendary writer's process • , which endures as a point of interest to readers and aspiring authors.

Spring and Summer • is a prequel of sorts to Revolutionary Letters, • detailing di Prima's life choices, which she then wrote about in her classic revolutionary handbook.

• There is a huge interest in the cultural life of Lower Manhattan during this time period, especially through the eyes of the women who lived it. Examples include: the popularity of Patti's Smith's Just Kids • ; Ninth Street Women: Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art • ; and the Netflix series Pretend It's a City • with Fran Lebowitz.

• Differs from Memoirs of a Beatnik • as this book is based on di Prima's real lived experiences, while that title had many notable embellishments to help its marketability.

© 2021 City Lights Publishers (Ebook): 9780872868571

Release date

Ebook: 5 October 2021