Rebel. Outsider. Radical. Misfit.

No matter what anyone thinks of him, it is undeniable that Jack Kerouac and his writing have left a huge imprint on the American culture. To commemorate the anniversary of Kerouac’s birth, writer Gerald Nicosia and poet A.D. Winans will hold “Kerouac and Friends: A Jack Kerouac Birthday Celebration,” a reading of his work at the North Beach branch of the San Francisco Public Library on Wednesday, March 10.

Asked why he wants to do a reading on Kerouac’s work, Nicosia, who wrote the book “Memory Babe,” a detailed biography on the life of Kerouac, said that he would like “to share what I have learned about Kerouac."

"I was blown away by his work, because he was asking the big questions about life: Why are we here? What is our purpose? He was also a big part of San Francisco history," said Nicosia.

Jack was born Jean-Louis Kerouac in Lowell, Mass., on March 12, 1922 to French-Canadian parents. From the beginning, his life wasn’t easy. His older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever when Jack was just 4 years old. His father started to endure financial setbacks, and gambled to earn back the family’s money.

Kerouac, hoping to better himself and his family, attended Columbia University in 1940 on a football scholarship. He and his football coach argued a lot, and Kerouac ultimately dropped out of Columbia. Later on, he met Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg in New York, who, along with a couple of other writers, would form the core of the “Beats," writers and poets who were influenced by jazz and bop music in their writings. The term “Beat” was a term Kerouac himself came up with in a conversation with writer John Clellon Holmes to describe his generation’s weariness with the world.

Kerouac came to San Francisco in 1949. At first, Kerouac didn't like the city, according to Jonah Raskin, author of the book “American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ and the Making of the Beat Generation. “He thought it was phony and fake,” Raskin explained. “Over time, he started hanging around jazz singers, writers, and other creative people. He found bars and jazz clubs he liked. He started to feel at home.”

While he lived in San Francisco, Kerouac led a very interesting life. He was at the legendary Six Gallery reading on October 7, 1955, famous for being the first time Ginsberg read his poem “Howl” in public. He collected money from people in attendance and went out to buy drinks to loosen up the crowd. “He liked the idea of audience participation,” Raskin explained.

When City Lights Bookstore owner and Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was tried on obscenity charges for publishing Ginsberg’s “Howl,” Kerouac was at his fellow Beat’s side. “He didn’t like what the courts or the police were doing to Ferlinghetti, because he liked poetry that spoke like the street, and ‘Howl’ was like that,,” Raskin said.

In 1957, “On the Road” was published, and Kerouac’s fame grew tremendously. Previous works that weren’t printed before, like “The Subterraneans,” “Dr. Sax,” “Mexico City Blues,” and “Tristessa,” were published.

Fame wasn’t easy on Kerouac, though. Critics lambasted his work, one going so far as to call Kerouac “a black spot on America,” according to Nicosia. He eventually moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., where he lived with his mother. He died on October 26, 1969 at the age of 47 of cirrhosis of the liver.

Thirty-four years after his death, his legacy lives on. In Monterey, Calif., the Beat Museum welcomes fans of Kerouac, selling everything from books on the author, T-shirts with his face on them, to actual first editions of his books. In San Francisco, Ferlinghetti successfully had alleyways in North Beach named after Kerouac and several other Beats.

Young fans continue to find and enjoy Kerouac’s work.

Jason Morris, 26, a creative writing major, talked about the first time he read Kerouac. “I was a teenager when my cousin turned me to ‘On the Road.’ I was floored by his style of writing. I was drunk on it," he said.

If you plan to attend, expect Nicosia to read some of Kerouac’s works and share stories about his life. Winans will read work from other Beat writers, such as Bob Kaufman and Jack Micheline, because as he put it, “I felt Kerouac was just one of many Beat poets. I want to bring attention to other ones.”

The reading will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the North Beach library, located at 2000 Mason St. at Columbus. For more information, contact the library at (415) 274-0270.