On Writing

Charles Bukowski was one of our most iconoclastic, raw, and riveting writers, one whose stories, poems, and novels have left an enduring mark on our culture. On Writing collects Bukowski’s reflections and ruminations on the craft that he dedicated his life to. Piercing, unsentimental, and often hilarious, On Writing is filled not only with memorable lines but also with the author’s trademark toughness, leavened with moments of grace, pathos, and intimacy. In the correspondence collected here – letters to publishers, editors, friends, and fellow writers – Bukowski is brutally frank about the drudgery of work and canny and uncompromising when it comes to the absurdities of life-and of art. Still, he is always ‘effortlessly, magnetically readable’ (Booklist), a true American legend and counter culture icon whose hard-edged, complex humanity is fully on display here. The ‘laureate of American lowlife,’ (Time) a writer associated with the downtrodden and depraved, Bukowski was still always – and indelibly – in tune with the life of the mind.

Reviews of On Writing

* A laureate of American low life Time * He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels — Leonard Cohen * The best poet in America — Jean Genet * Reflective, humane, tremendously evocative and absorbingly readable The Times * The thing about Bukowski is, when you read what he has to say, he's right — Sean Penn