“Thinking of the stars night after night I begin to realize 'The stars are words' and all the innumerable worlds in the Milky Way are words, and so is this world too. And I realize that no matter where I am, whether in a little room full of thought, or in this endless universe of stars and mountains, it’s all in my mind.”

American novelist and poet

Jack Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. Born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, he became a central figure in the Beat Generation and is known for helping shape it alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. His work is closely tied to that literary movement, and his reputation rests on the writing that helped define its voice and outlook. He is remembered as a novelist and poet whose name remains strongly associated with the Beat Generation.