SOMEDAY WE'LL BUILD CABINS
The Letters of Jack Kerouac
Jacques Beckwith, and Lois Sorrells Beckwith
Edited by Bill Morgan
ON SALE MAY 26, 2026
Sal Paradise Press and Rare Bird Books announce the latest release in their ongoing partnership and collaboration with the Estate of Jack Kerouac: Someday We’ll Build Cabins — a book of letters revealing the inner desires and turmoil of Jack Kerouac after his rise to literary acclaim in the 1960s.
In 1960, at the height of his fame, Jack Kerouac began a sustained correspondence with New York artist Jacques Beckwith. What emerged from these letters was a shared dream of escape: to build simple cabins in the woods...places of refuge from war, dishonesty, public scrutiny, and the pressures of celebrity. “I want to live in the woods where I don’t even have to think about this evil world of wars and dishonesties,” Kerouac wrote.
But while Beckwith realized his dream, Kerouac was thwarted by alcoholism, lawsuits, constant travel, marital strife, and the burden of caring for his mother. These letters reveal the deeply human side of the Beat legend — his frustrations, distractions, and restless longing for peace.
"Jack was tired and trying to find some quiet in a world that had made him larger than life" said Jim Sampas, Literary Executor of the Estate of Jack Kerouac and co-founder of Sal Paradise Press. "We’re grateful to Lois Sorrells Beckwith for keeping these letters safe and letting us show them to the world. This loving, and deeply personal, correspondence gives us a better understanding of Jack's outlook later in life and the friendships that kept him going. Working with Lois, her son Sebastian Beckwith, and editor Bill Morgan has been incredible, witnessing their tremendous love and commitment to the work."
Reflecting on the correspondence and its legacy, Lois Sorrells Beckwith, who was one of the authors and preserved these letters, said, “Along with dreaming and building of our sacred cabins, this is a beautiful love affair between three people.”
The Kerouac archive is extensive as Jack was his greatest archivist. He consistently wrote and saved everything thinking that someday it may hold meaning for others. This correspondence adds an important chapter to the archives as it shows the tension between the freedom Jack imagined and the realities that bound him. Far from the reckless adventurer often associated with On the Road, these letters present a man who craved quiet, rootedness, and withdrawal from the noise of modern life.
“These pages carry real weight,” said Sylvia Cunha, Director of Marketing & Business Development for the Jack Kerouac Estate and co-founder of Sal Paradise Press. “Every time we release something like this, we’re setting the legend aside and letting people see Jack as he really was. The letters are honest and deeply human. This release is not only about honoring Jack but also Lois Sorrells Beckwith and the late Jacques Beckwith, who protected this piece of history and made it possible for us to share with the world.”
This collection adds an essential chapter to the ongoing publication of Kerouac’s previously unseen work, deepening our understanding of both the writer and the person behind the legend. It’s the fifth book in a series of joint releases from Rare Bird Books and Sal Paradise Press, following Desolation Peak (2022), Truth and Beautiful Meaningful Lies (2023), Self-Portrait (2024), The Buddhist Years (2025), and continues the careful work of expanding the public’s understanding of one of America’s most enduring literary voices.
Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922, the youngest of three children in a Franco-American family. He attended local Catholic and public schools and won a scholarship to Columbia University in New York City, where he first met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. His first novel, The Town and the City, appeared in 1950, but it was On the Road, published in 1957 and memorializing his adventures with Neal Cassady, that epitomized to the world what became known as the “Beat generation” and made Kerouac one of the best-known writers of his time. Publication of many other books followed, among them The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans, and Big Sur. Kerouac considered all of his autobiographical fiction to be part of “one vast book,” The Duluoz Legend. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969, at the age of forty-seven.
Jacques Beckwith (1920–2000) was an artist and carpenter living and working during the 1950s and '60s. He was a founding member of the Hansa Gallery, one of the legendary downtown New York galleries clustered around E. 10th Street during that period.
Lois Sorrells Beckwith (b. 1935) is a poet and artist still living near the cabin that Jacques built in Cornwall, CT. She dated both Jack Kerouac and Lucien Carr and later married Jacques Beckwith.
Bill Morgan (b. 1949) is the author and editor of more than forty books which deal primarily with the Beat Generation. Among them are Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Live of Allen Ginsberg and The Typewriter Is Holy: The Complete, Uncensored History of the Beat Generation. He is currently editing the complete journals of Arthur Miller.
Rare Bird is a Los Angeles–based publishing company founded by Tyson Cornell, former Marketing and Publicity Director of Book Soup, a legendary independent bookstore on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. Rare Bird is known for high quality literary and entertainment books by notable authors such as Chuck Palahniuk, Bella Thorne, William T. Vollmann, Sean Penn, Ashley Blue, Jerry Stahl, “Miss” Mercy Fontenot, Frank Capra, Karmen Karma, J. G. Ballard, Malia James, and many others. They are distributed by Simon & Schuster.
Sal Paradise Press is a publishing imprint created by the Jack Kerouac Estate in partnership with Rare Bird/Simon & Schuster. Named after Jack’s iconic alter ego in On the Road, the press is committed to preserving his legacy by introducing modern readers to previously unpublished and lesser-known works and also a launching pad for daring, fresh voices. The Los Angeles Times has called Sal Paradise Press co-founder Jim Sampas “the thinking person's producer [who has a] reputation for sticking out of the pack.” He has produced numerous projects receiving critical acclaim in such major news outlets as People, Newsweek, CNN, The New York Times, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and NPR. Jim is the Literary Executor of the Jack Kerouac Estate. Sal Paradise Press co-founder Sylvia Cunha is a veteran music industry executive with over two decades of experience in promotion, marketing, and live event creation. She has worked with many well-known musicians, promoters, festivals, and venues and her work has received coverage in Billboard, Pollstar, Deadline Hollywood, and The Boston Globe, and many other publications. Sylvia oversees all aspects of marketing and business development for the Jack Kerouac Estate.