We were deeply moved today to receive an email from the son of one of America's greatest literary icons - Neal Cassady aka Dean Moriarty, the protagonist of On The Road and author of his own books of memoir and epistolary writing. Cassady died on this day many years ago. This is the email in full, which we have permission to republish here. BSPG is honoured to publish books by several Cassadys, with more on the way.
Neal Leon Cassady died on this day, 1968, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 4 days short of his 42nd birthday. He would have turned 95 next Monday (as if! Ha ha). When Walker and I were in San Miguel a couple of years ago, everybody seemed to have known him (or at least they claimed that they did). "Oh, senior, the gringo. We played cards with him that night! I took him to the hospital in this very pickup truck the next day! We found him on the tracks!" Well, who knows? I guess it doesn't really matter anymore....shucks.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Pops!
As always, your loving son,
John Allen Cassady