Beat Poets Are Topic of 1965 Doc

A scene from the Beat poet happening at Royal Albert Hall in June 1965

The world’s leading Beat poets gathered under one roof one day in 1965, at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The short film that documented this historic event will screen at Emerson College on Tuesday, November 10, as part of the Bright Lights Film Series.

Emerson College alumnus and poet Janaka Stucky '00

Wholly Communion (1965), directed by Peter Whitehead, will be screened in 35mm with a live poetry reading by Emerson alumnus Janaka Stucky ’00. The event starts at 7:00 pm.

This 50th anniversary screening and poetry reading commemorate “The International Poetry Incarnation,” which was known as Great Britain’s first full-scale “happening.” The evening of June 11, 1965, was remembered for its “near-hallucinatory” revelry and came to be seen as one of the cultural high points of the 1960s.

Stucky participated in the Poetry Reincarnation 50th anniversary event in London this past spring.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing.