Anne Waldman is a cofounder with Allen Ginsberg of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, which began in 1974, and chair of its celebrated Summer Writing Program. She is the author of over forty books of poetry and poetics including the classic Fast Speaking Woman; the epic poem Iovis; Marriage: A Sentence; and a collection of essays entitled Vow to Poetry. She is the coeditor of several major anthologies including The Angel Hair Anthology and Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action. In addition to her teaching, editing, and archival work, she is an internationally known performer/vocalist of her own work, and a cultural and political activist.