Jack Kerouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an influential American novelist and poet, best known as a leading figure of the Beat Generation alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Born to French-Canadian parents in Lowell, Massachusetts, he grew up speaking French and learned English as a child. After serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II, he published his first novel, The Town and the City, in 1950. His second book, On the Road, released in 1957, made him a cultural icon and defined a generation. Kerouac became known for his spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness writing style, exploring themes like spirituality, jazz, travel, and counterculture life. Though he passed away in 1969, his work grew in influence, impacting major artists of the 1960s and leaving a lasting legacy in American literature and music.