ABOUT PHILIP WHALEN
San Francisco Renaissance poet and author whose poetic works include On Bear's Head and Self Portrait from Another Direction. His prose works include Imaginary Speeches for a Brazen Head and The Diamond Noodle.
He attended Reed College, where he met fellow poet Gary Snyder .
He was a practicing Zen Buddhist, and he compiled his faith-inspired poems in a 1996 work entitled Canoeing up Cabarga Creek: Buddhist Poems 1955-1986.
He grew up in Oregon and later served in World War II.
He was the inspiration for the character of Warren in Jack Kerouac 's famous novel The Dharma Bums.
