THIS BIRD FLIES BACKWARD (Currently In Production)
"A few people like her get made every few thousand years, in order to highlight the dullness of the rest." Andrei Codrescu, The Baltimore Sun, May 1983
Growing up in the 1930s and 1940s in a traditional Italian American home taught Diane di Prima that being a poet, writer - or really any kind of artist - was not something one did. But di Prima did not listen. On the shelves of the Brooklyn Public Library, di Prima found inspiration in classic philosophers and poets. At age 14, she made a commitment to be a writer. By the early 1950's, di Prima was living in Greenwich Village, writing, publishing, and starting literary journals. Within a few years, she became well-known as a prominent member of the still-nascent Beat scene, and her poetry and books began to circulate around the world.