Product Description Poetry. Fiction. Drama. A HELEN ADAM READER, edited, with Notes and an Introduction by Kristen Prevallet, is a voluminous collection of Adam's life and work. Prevallet's introduction offers an in-depth biography of Adam, chronicling her work in relation to political and personal events. Movements in the late fifties and early sixties, Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beat Generation, and the New York School, both influenced and were influenced by Adam's work. She did not adhere closely to one particular form; she invented her own style, experimenting with ballads for which she is most remembered. Adam is increasingly important to poetry's history and evolution. "This magnanimous scholarly compendium of the work and life of Helen Adam is a recovery and reclamation project of major importance, giving weight and measure to an iconic and unique figure"-Anne Waldman. About the Author Helen Adam (b. December 2, 1909 in Glasgow, Scotland - d. September 19, 1993 in New York City) was an American poet, collagist and photographer who was an active participant in The San Francisco Renaissance, a literary movement contemporaneous to the Beat Generation that occurred in San Francisco during the 1950s and 1960s. Though often associated with the Beat poets, she would more accurately be considered one of the predecessors of the Beat Generation. She was 82 when she died.