Jan in car smiling

Jan worked hundreds of different jobs in her life but she always considered herself primarily a writer. Her talent was autobiographical, like her father's, and wonderfully poetic. She once remarked "I wish I'd known him better. We would've had a blast". But she met Jack only twice in her life, once when she was 9 and later when she was 15, pregnant and on her way to Mexico.

Jan at Jack's grave, tells how she forgives him for his wandering

Jan weeping at Jack's grave
Jan Kerouac's obituary:
"Daughter of Beat writer"

Jan at Jack's grave, angry

Jan at Jack's grave worried

Jan and her brother David playing onstage
Jan and David Bowers

   
Jan and Jack Kerouac

 

 

Jan Kerouac was Jack Kerouac's only child. She was born on February 16, 1952 in Albany, New York. Jack had nothing to do with Jan's upbringing and she was raised by her mother Joan Haverty, mostly in New York City and in the American northwest, along with her half-brother David Bowers.

Beginning in her turbulent teenage years, Jan was frequently on the road. She was an adventurer, making frequent trips to Mexico, Central and South America. It was around this time that she met John Cassady, Neal Cassady's son, who proposed to her. Like her father, she possessed a vivid imagination and memory and a love of words. She recounted many of the experiences in her dramatic and exciting life in two novels, "Baby Driver" and "Trainsong".

Cosmic Baseball Jan: http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/
jank7.html

Nice Jan pic
http://www.bellastudios.com/DOCS/20/JanKerouac.html

Jan meets Jack: http://www.tijean.freeserve.co.uk/women.htm

Kerouac Kronology:
http://members.aol.com/kerouacsis/
Kerouaccron.html

In the early 1990s Jan embroiled herself in a protracted and bitter legal dispute with John Sampas, owner of the Jack Kerouac Estate, over the signature on a will which left Jack's archives and personal effects under the control of Stella Sampas, Jack's last wife.

Together with Gerald Nicosia, she staged a very public campaign to bring publicity to her cause, which was to gain ownership of her estranged father's property. The will was Gabrielle Kerouac's, Jack's mother, and Jan claimed it was a forgery. She gained new supporters and friends, among them Buddah, Al Aronwitz and Patrick Fenton.

The case was dismissed after Jan's death but it is now back in the courts, where it is being pursued by Paul Blake Jr, Jack's nephew and the only surviving direct blood relation of Jack Kerouac.

Jan at Jack's grave saying "I'm his daughter!"
Jan's account of being ejected from the
NYU Jack Kerouac Conference
http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/
IKL/JanLetter.html

 

 

In Memorian, Jan Kerouac
http://colinp1.home.mindspring.com/
jan-obit.htm

Literary Kicks on Jan
http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/
People/JanKerouac.html

Cosmic Baseball on Jan
http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/
jank7.html

The Beat Museum
http://www.kerouac.com/biography/
biography_kerouac_jan.htm

Gerald Nicosia remembers Jan
http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/
blackj/column19a.html

Jan's books
http://www.bookwoman.com/
beats/jank.html

Patrick Raftery on the Estate Controversy: http://www.literarytraveler.com/
kerouac/kerouacestate.htm

Bella Studios...very cool art...friends of Jan
http://www.bellastudios.com/DOCS/1/BStudiosHome.html