Morgan, Bill 1949-

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Morgan, Bill 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born April 28, 1949, in Beaver, PA; married Judy A. Matz. Education: University of Pittsburgh, B.A., 1972, M.L.S., 1973.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY.

CAREER:

Writer, consultant, bibliographer, editor, and artist.

MEMBER:

Bibliographic Society of America.

WRITINGS:

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: A Comprehensive Bibliography, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1982.

(Editor) Kanreki, Lospecchio Press (New York, NY), 1986.

(Editor, with Bob Rosenthal) Best Minds: A Tribute to Allen Ginsberg, Lospecchio Press (New York, NY), 1986.

The Works of Allen Ginsberg, 1941-1994, Greenwood (Westport, CT), 1995.

The Response to Allen Ginsberg, 1926-1994, Greenwood (Westport, CT), 1996.

The Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City, City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA), 1997.

(Editor, with Bob Rosenthal and Peter Hale) Allen Ginsberg, Death & Fame: Poems, 1993-1997, HarperCollins (San Francisco, CA), 1999.

(Coauthor) Collector's Guide to TV Toys and Memorabilia, Collector Books, 1999.

(Editor) Allen Ginsberg, Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays, 1952-1995, HarperCollins (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

Literary Landmarks: The Book Lover's Guide to New York, photographs from the Museum of the City of New York, City & Co. (New York, NY), 2001.

(Editor and author of commentary) An Accidental Autobiography: The Selected Letters of Gregory Corso, foreword by Patti Smith, New Directions (New York, NY), 2003.

The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour, introduction by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

(Editor, with Nancy J. Peters) Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression, City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA), 2006.

(Editor, with Juanita Lieberman-Plimpton) Allen Ginsberg, The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems, 1937-1952, Da Capo Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg, Viking (New York, NY), 2006.

Also designer of edition of Allen Ginsberg's Old Love Story, for Lospecchio Press.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bill Morgan developed an interest in the Beat poets when he attended the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1970s, completing his master thesis—compiling a bibliography of the works of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The author eventually moved to New York City and developed a friendship with Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and helped the poet as his archivist and bibliographer. He has since written or edited several works on Ginsberg as well as other literary topics. For example, he served as coeditor with Bob Rosenthal and Peter Hale of Death & Fame: Poems, 1993-1997, a collection of Ginsberg's last poems. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote of the book: "This volume … is no throwaway compendium of scattered verses. Rather, it is a perfect capstone to a noble life." Rochelle Ratner, writing in the Library Journal noted that Death & Fame is "chronologically arranged and judiciously edited."

As editor of the Ginsberg collection titled Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays, 1952-1995, Morgan presents Ginsberg writing about a wide range of topics, from drugs and spirituality to artists and writers that Ginsberg admired. "Ginsberg lived a fascinating life, and these essays are like his intimate lost letters," wrote James Gartner in the National Review. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "this sprawling compilation of 154 ‘essays’ (many run only a page or so) memorializes Ginsberg's stances, opinions, reactions, experiences and proclamations." Ray Olson, writing in Booklist, called the volume "splendidly browseable."

Morgan served as editor and author of the commentary for An Accidental Autobiography: the Selected Letters of Gregory Corso. The volume includes letters from the poet Corso to a wide range of Beat poets and writers, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Isabella Gardner. A Kirkus Reviews contributor referred to the book as a "zinging, furious output of epistles."

In Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression, Morgan presents numerous documents associated with the 1957 obscenity trial in San Francisco held for the publication of Ginsberg's Howl. In addition to trial documentation that highlights the legal proceedings, the book includes numerous letters, including one from Ginsberg that provides his own dissection of the poem Howl. A Publishers Weekly contributor called Howl on Trial "useful as a reference tool for those researching Ginsberg or obscenity law." Fred Moramarco, writing in the Humanist, noted that the editors' "compilation of materials brings us palpably into the controversy that this revolutionary poem aroused against the quiet, bland background of Eisenhower America."

Morgan served as coeditor with Juanita Lieberman-Plimpton of Ginsberg's The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems, 1937-1952, which features much of Ginsberg's early private journals, letters, and other writings. "The text serves as an evolving portrait of both a writer and a man," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Writing in the Village Voice, C. Carr noted: "In Martyrdom and Artifice, he's [Ginsberg] struggling to find his voice like most young writers. He's self-conscious, confused, certain he should date women, speculating that he'll lead a quiet life and write prose."

Having written and edited several volumes about Ginsberg's work, Morgan presents a biography of the poet in I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg. "Morgan's exemplary biography of the man suffers only from being too short," wrote Gregory McNamee in Kirkus Reviews. McNamee also noted that the author predicates his biography of Ginsberg on the belief that "Ginsberg can be thought of as a hero: a pioneer of civil rights, an antiwar activist, a fierce champion of the First Amendment, an indefatigable traveler and ambassador of culture, a gentleman." A Publishers Weekly contributor noted: "Ginsberg and his gang … are such vibrant, compelling characters that this mere straight-forward chronicle of their lives approaches … a fair imitation of art." Another Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote that Morgan's "massive life of the poet turns out to be flawed only by its brevity," adding that the biography is "a superb, highly readable addition to the history of 20th-century American letters." William Gargan wrote in the Library Journal: "A monumental work, this fascinating biography belongs in all literature collections."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2000, Ray Olson, review of Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays, 1952-1995, p. 1070; September 15, 2006, Ray Olson, review of I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg, p. 16.

Entertainment Weekly, April 9, 1999, Clarissa Cruz, review of Collector's Guide to TV Toys and Memorabilia, p. 70.

Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, September, 2001, Michale Hattersley, review of Deliberate Prose. p. 35.

Humanist, November-December, 2006, Fred Moramarco, review of Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression, p. 42.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2003, review of An Accidental Biography: The Selected Letters of Gregory Corso, p. 200; August 1, 2006, reviews of I Celebrate Myself and The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems, 1937-1952, p. 770; October 1, 2006, Gregory McNamee, "Appreciations: Allen Ginsberg," includes review of I Celebrate Myself, p. 974.

Library Journal, January, 1999, Rochelle Ratner, review of Death & Fame: Poems, 1993-1997, p. 103; March 15, 2000, William Gargan, review of Deliberate Prose, p. 85; October 15, 2006, William Gargan, review of I Celebrate Myself, p. 62.

National Review, May 22, 2000, James Gartner, review of Deliberate Prose, p. 70.

New York Times Book Review, November 19, 2006, Walter Kirn, review of Ginsberg book Collected Poems, 1947-1997, includes discussion of author and his biography of Ginsberg titled I Celebrate Myself.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 12, 2006, "Inside Allen Ginsberg: His Biographer Keeps It Real."

Publishers Weekly, January 25, 1999, review of Death & Fame, p. 90; January 31, 2000, review of Deliberate Prose, p. 91; September 4, 2006, review of The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice, p. 49; September 11, 2006, review of I Celebrate Myself, p. 49; September 25, 2006, review of Howl on Trial, p. 59.

Sacramento News and Review, November 16, 2006, Kel Munger, "The Beat Goes On: Four New Books Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Allen Ginsberg's Epic Poem," includes review of Howl on Trial.

Village Voice, November 9, 2006, C. Carr, "The Beat Root: Chronicling the Adventures of Beat Seeker Allen Ginsberg."