The enduring popularity of Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski, 1981. Photo by Mark Hanauer.

This Saturday, August 16 marks the birthday of one of Los Angeles’ most beloved and notorious writers, Charles Bukowski. Were he still with us, he’d be 94.

Bukowski has been called the Poet Laureate of Skid Row. His books, from Ham on Rye to Post Office to Hot Water Music, celebrate the drunks and the down and outs who populated the bars, cheap hotel rooms and racetracks of L.A.

Skylight Books in Los Feliz is hosting a birthday party for Bukowski on Saturday, and one of the authors invited to read is Jerry Stahl.

He’s the author of Permanent Midnight and Perv – A Love Story, and most recently Happy Mutant Baby Pills. He joined KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis in the studio to talk about Bukowski’s enduring popularity.