Neal Cassady's Daughter Shares Story Of Letter That Inspired "On The Road"

Award-winning journalist Vicki Gonzalez hosts interviews with community leaders, advocates, experts, artists and more to provide background and understanding on breaking news, big events, politics and culture in the Sacramento region and beyond.

Schedule

Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
on News Station

Neal Cassady was better known as the man who inspired artists in the Beat Generation than as an artist himself.

The fabled “Joan Anderson Letter’ of December 1950 was sent by Cassady to Jack Kerouac. It inspired Kerouac’s “On The Road” and set off a literary revolution. The letter was once considered “lost” for more than 60 years until it was rediscovered in the files of Golden Goose press in 2012, the same small company that printed the works of Allen Ginsberg and Kenneth Rexroth.

Cathy Cassady Sylvia, the daughter of Neal Cassady, joins Insight to recount the journey of the Joan Anderson Letter to its final destination and her father’s part in the history of the Beat Generation.