Allen Ginsberg's first collection of poetry, "Howl and other Poems," was the basis of an obscenity trial in San Francisco in 1957, where the book was declared "legal." Since that time, he has published 13 books of poetry, including "Fall of America," which won the National Book Award in 1974, 11 books of prose, and eight phonograph records. Ginsberg has also been active as a film actor, anti-war activist, lecturer, teacher, and composer for the past 20 years. In 1974, along with the poet Anne Waldman, he founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa Institute. He has read and published his work widely, and he has been described as "the most significant poet to emerge from the Beat Generation of poets." [extracted from 1982 brochure]