Ed Sanders

For other uses, seeEd Sanders (disambiguation).

Ed Sanders
Sanders reading at the House Divided poetry event,Cooper Union,April 2017
Born	Edward Sanders (1939-08-17)August 17, 1939 Kansas City, Missouri,U.S.
Education	New York University
Occupations	Poet author publisher social activist environmentalist musician
Years active	1958–present
Known for	The Fugs Poem from Jail,City Lights Books, 1963 Woodstock Journal
Spouse	Miriam Sanders ​ (m.1967)​
Awards	Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, American Book Award, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award

Edward Sanders(born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, activist, author, publisher and longtime member of the rock bandthe Fugs.He has been called a bridge between theBeatandhippiegenerations.Sanders is considered to have been active and "present at thecounterculture'screation. "

Biography

Sanders was born inKansas City, Missouri.He dropped out of theUniversity of Missouriin 1958 and hitchhiked to New York City'sGreenwich Villageto attendNew York University.He graduated in 1964, with a degree inGreek.

Sanders wrote his first notable poem, "Poem from Jail", on toilet paper in his cell after being jailed for protesting the launch ofnuclear submarinesarmed with nuclear missiles in 1961. In 1962, he founded theavant-gardejournalFuck You/A Magazine of the Arts.Sanders opened the Peace Eye Bookstore at 383 East Tenth Street in what was then theLower East Side;the store became a gathering place forBohemians,writers and radicals. On January 1, 1966, police raided Peace Eye Bookstoreand charged Sanders with obscenity, charges he fended off with the aid of theACLU.Notoriety generated by the case led to his appearance on the February 17, 1967 cover ofLife Magazine,which proclaimed him "a leader of New York's Other Culture."

In late 1964, Sanders foundedthe FugswithTuli Kupferberg.The band broke up in 1969 and reformed in 1984. On October 21, 1967, on theNational Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam'sMarch on the Pentagon,Sanders helped The Fugs and theSan Francisco Diggersin an attempt to "exorcise"The Pentagon.In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest"pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against theVietnam War.

In 1969, Sanders recorded and released his first solo album forReprise Records,Sanders' Truck Stop.Reviewing inChristgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies(1981),Robert Christgauwrote: "This is literally acountry-rocktakeoff—not a parody but a departure. But though I hesitate to criticize a man who is not only a saint and a genius but who says hello to me at the post office, I must point out that the yodeling country twang Sanders developed with the Fugs has never known the difference between parody and departure, which makes some of these songs seem crueller than they're intended to be. Of course, sometimes they're cruel on purpose—like 'The Iliad,' a saga of good oldqueer-bashingwith aGreek-to-meintro. And sometimes, like 'Jimmy Joe, the Hippybilly Boy,' they're—snurfle—lyrical and sad. "

In 1971, Sanders wroteThe Family,a profile of the events leading up to theTate-LaBianca murders.He attended theMansongroup's murder trial, and spent time at their residence at theSpahn Movie Ranch.There have been two updated editions ofThe Family,the most recent in 2002.The Process Church of the Final Judgementsued Sanders's U.S. publisher fordefamationover a chapter linking them with Manson's activities. The case was settled by the publisher, who removed the disputed chapter from future editions. The Process Church then sued Sanders's British publisher, but lost the suit and were forced to pay the defendant's legal fees.

Later in the 1970s, Sanders contracted to write a book about the popular rock bandthe Eagles.In an interview, Sanders described the contract as paying "very, very well." He worked on it for two years, generating a four volume manuscript that was never published.In 2005, he sold lyrics worksheets that he'd received in connection with the intended biography, leading to the buyer's and others' prosecution in 2024 for conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property; however, the trial would later be dropped by prosecutors.Sanders was not charged.

Sanders is the founder of the Investigative Poetry movement. His 1976 manifestoInvestigative Poetry,published byLawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books, influenced investigative writing and poetry during the ensuing decades. In the 1990s, Sanders began utilizing the principles of Investigative Poetry to create a series of book-length poems on literary figures and American History. Among these works areChekhov,1968: A History in Verse,andThe Poetry and Life of Allen Ginsberg.In 1998, Sanders began work on a 9-volumeAmerica, A History in Verse.The first five volumes, tracing the history of the 20th century, were published in a CD format at over 2,000 pages in length.

Sanders received aGuggenheim Fellowshipin poetry in 1983, and aNational Endowment for the ArtsFellowship in poetry in 1987. HisThirsting for Peace in a Raging Century, Selected Poems 1961–1985won anAmerican Book Awardin 1988. He was chosen to deliver the Charles Olson Memorial Lectures atSUNY Buffaloin 1983. In 1997, he received a Writers Community residency sponsored by theYMCANational Writer's Voice through theLila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund.

In 1997, he was awarded a grant from theFoundation for Contemporary ArtsGrants to Artists Award.In 2000 and 2003, he was Writer-in-Residence at the New York State Writers Institute inAlbany, New York.

Sanders lives inWoodstock, New York,where he publishes the onlineWoodstock Journalwith his wife of over 47 years, writer and painter Miriam R. Sanders.He also invents musical instruments, including the Talking Tie, themicrotonalMicrolyre, and the Lisa Lyre, a musical contraption involving light-activated switches and a reproduction ofDa Vinci'sMona Lisa.

Selected bibliography

• Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts,New York: Peace Eye Bookstore (1962-1965)
• Poem from Jail,San Francisco:City Lights Books,1963
• Peace Eye(1965)
• Shards of God(1970)
• The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion(1971, New Edition, 1990)
• Egyptian Hieroglyphics(1973)
• Tales of Beatnik Glory,Volume 1 (1975)
• Investigative Poetry(1976)
• 20,000 A.D.(1976)
• Fame & Love in New York(1980)
• The Z-D Generation(1981)
• The Cutting Prow(1983)
• Hymn to Maple Syrup & Other Poems(1985)
• Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century: Selected Poems 1961–1985(1987)
• Poems for Robin(1987)
• Tales of Beatnik Glory,Volumes 1 & 2 (1990) New York: Citadel Underground.ISBN978-0-8065-1172-6
• Hymn to the Rebel Cafe(1993)
• Chekhov(1995)
• 1968: A History in Verse(1997)
• America, A History in Verse,Vol. 1 (1900–1939) (2000)
• The Poetry and Life of Allen Ginsberg,The Overlook Press(2000)
• America, A History in Verse,Vol. 2 (1940–1961) (2001)
• America, A History in Verse,Vol. 3 (1962–1970) (2004)
• "Poems for New Orleans" (2004)
• Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century,Selected Poems (1961–1985) (2009)
• Let's Not Keep Fighting the Trojan War,New and Selected Poems (1986–2009) (2009)
• "Edward Sanders | Glyphs"The Brother in Elysium(2011)
• Ed Sanders (December 13, 2011).Fug You: An Informal History of the Peace Eye Bookstore, the Fuck You Press, the Fugs, and Counterculture in the Lower East Side.Da Capo Press.ISBN978-0-306-81943-8.
• "A Book of Glyphs(trade edition)Granary Books(2014)
• A Book of GlyphsArchivedJanuary 3, 2018, at theWayback Machine(limited edition)Granary Books(2014)
• Glyph Notes: Commentary on A Book of GlyphsArchivedFebruary 10, 2015, at theWayback Machine(pdf of booklet included with the limited edition)Granary Books(2014)
• Sharon Tate: A Life(2015)
• Broken Glory: The Final Years of Robert F. KennedyArcade Publishing(2018) illustrated byRick Veitch

Selected solo discography

• Sanders' Truckstop1969
• Beer Cans on the Moon1972
• Yiddish-speaking socialists of the Lower East Side1991
• Songs in ancient Greek1992
• American Bard1996
• Thirsting for Peace2005
• Poems for New Orleans2007
• Surreal Housewives of Woodstock2011 (never released, with Jules Shear)
• The Sanders-Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project2023
• Ed Sanders and The Plastic People of the Universe - The Garden is Open - In Concert at the Prague Writers Festival 2005Released 2024
• Ed Sanders - Rare and Unreleased Recordings 1965-99- 4 CD BOX Set in Hardcover Book Format Released 2024

Discography with the Fugs

• SeeFugs Discography

See also

• List of peace activists
• Poetry in Motion(1982)
• Woodstock Journal

Bibliography

• Charters, Ann (ed.).The Portable Beat Reader.Penguin Books. New York. 1992.ISBN0-670-83885-3

External links

• Guide to the Ed Sanders PapersArchivedMay 20, 2018, at theWayback Machineat the University of Connecticut Archives & Special Collections
• The Woodstock Journal
• Photo Ed Sanders Performing With The Fugs, NYC, 1967by Michael Maggid
• Feature on Ed Sanders from Paste MagazineArchivedJanuary 4, 2018, at theWayback Machineby Matt Fink
• Audio recordings of Ed Sanders,fromMaryland Institute College of Art's Decker Library,Internet Archive
• Interview with Ed Sanders by Stephen McKiernan,from Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s.
• Ed Sandersdiscography atDiscogs