Diane Di Prima (1934- ) is an American poet, writer, and activist. She is considered to be one of the most influential female Beat poets of the 20th century.
Di Prima was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian-American parents. She attended Swarthmore College for two years before dropping out and moving to Greenwich Village in 1954. It was there that she became involved in the Beat movement, writing poetry and associating with notable Beat figures such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
In the early 1960s, Di Prima moved to San Francisco, where she continued to write and edit poetry. She founded the influential journal The Floating Bear with LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka). She was also the first female editor of the San Francisco Oracle, a counterculture newspaper.
In 1968, Di Prima published her most famous work, the long poem "Revolutionary Letters". This work was highly influential in the anti-war and civil rights movements of the time, and it has since become a classic of American literature.
In addition to her writing, Di Prima was heavily involved in activism. She was a major organizer of the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and she was a prominent figure in the Women's Liberation Movement.
Di Prima has continued to write and publish poetry throughout her life, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Book Award for Poetry. In addition, she has taught at numerous universities, including Stanford, Columbia, and the Naropa Institute.
Di Prima's work has been widely praised for its lyrical beauty and its feminist and political themes. She has been an inspiration to countless writers, and her work continues to influence the Beat and counterculture movements to this day.
