37^th annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival: October 9–13, 2025

Poetry and musical performances, tours, and more planned to commemorate life and legacy of Jack Kerouac

Lowell, MA — Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell and became a writer here. Each October, the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival (LCK!) illuminates his local influences and explores his enduring impact on music, art, and literature.

This year’s events include:

• The Last Pink Glow: An Interpretation of Jack Kerouac’s The Haunted Life, performed by Rocking Horse Music Club (Sun, Taffeta Music Hall)
• Dreams, Creativity, and Kerouac: a discussion with author and psychologist Deirdre Barrett (Sun., lala books)
• Annual LCK! Parker Lecture: Hassan Melehy on the role of immigrants in Kerouac’s novels (Sat., Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center Theater)
• Musical performances by Rachel Sumner(Fri., Dragonfly Cafe), Alligator Wine with Mike Younger & The Tennessee Tree Huggers (Fri., Worthen House Café), and legendary jazz performer and Kerouac collaborator David Amram (Sat., Middlesex Community College)
• Book talk: Legends of Little Canada by Charlie Gargiulo (Fri., lala books)
• spectral-in-my-mind Bridge Street: A presentation of historic Lowell photography in conjunction with the by Annie Powell project
• Tours to sites including Kerouac’s birthplace, grave site, and novel locations.

For more information, visit: www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org

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Jack Kerouac (1922-1967) was a novelist and poet of French-Canadian ancestry born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He is best known for On the Road (1957), a novel that captured the restless spirit of the time and continues to inspire readers, and for his pioneering role in the literary subculture he dubbed the “Beat Generation.” Among his other published works are five novels that draw on his youth in Lowell. He is buried in Edson Cemetery in Lowell.

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!  (LCK!) is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 to promote a better understanding and appreciation of Jack Kerouac’s life and work. In addition to the annual festival, LCK! sponsors a spring program marking Kerouac’s birthday. LCK! volunteers help maintain Kerouac Park and Jack Kerouac Commemorative in Lowell.