Allan Davis Winans (born January 12, 1936, in San Francisco, California), known as A. D. Winans, is an American poet,[1] essayist, short story writer and publisher. Born in San Francisco, California, he returned home from Panama in 1958, after serving three years in the military. In 1962, he graduated from San Francisco State College.
He made his home away from home in North Beach where he became friends with Beat poets like Bob Kaufman and Jack Micheline.
He was the founder of Second Coming Press, a small press based in San Francisco that published books, poetry broadsides, a magazine, and anthologies. He edited Second Coming Magazine for seventeen years from 1972 to 1989. Winans became friends with Charles Bukowski, whose work he published. He also published Bukowski's then-girlfriend, Linda King. Other writers he published included Jack Micheline, Bob Kaufman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Levine, Josephine Miles, David Meltzer, Charles Plymell. etc. (Seminal books include North Beach Poems (Second Coming Press) 1977. Drowning Like Li Po in a River of Red Wine: Selected Poems1970-2010 (Bottle of Smoke Press). San Francisco Poems (Little Red Tree Publishing) 2017.
In 2002, he published his memoir, Holy Grail: Charles Bukowski & The Second Coming Revolution.
A.D. Winans has had poetry, book reviews, and short stories published in over 1500 magazines and anthologies. He has written 68 books of poetry, and two books of prose.
A song poem of his was performed at Alice Tully Hall, New York City. In 2012 his song poem was included in a CD (Song Cycles by various American composers) by the University of Lafayette along with song poems by Oscar Wilde, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Kenneth Koch and others.In 2006, he was awarded a PEN National Josephine Miles Award for excellence in literature. In 2009 PEN Oakland presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 he was a recipient of a Kathy Acker Award (The New York Acker Award) in poetry and publishing. Other awards include a Pig Iron Press Kenneth Patchen Award and a San Francisco Arts and Letters Foundation Award for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Literary Arts.His essay on the late poet Bob Kaufman was published in APR (American Poetry Review) and republished by The Writers Research Group.The article appeared along with a poem for Kaufman in a booklet produced by the Los Angeles Afro-American Museum.His latest book, "Cityscapes: a quilt of Poetry was published by Cold River Press, Grass Valley, Ca.Honors include Quiet Lightning, Neighborhood Hero (San Francisco), and Language of the Birds (Artistic History Plaque/North Beach).
Worked and retired from the U.S. Dept. of Education (Office of Civil Rights) as an Equal Opportunity Specialist investigating discrimination against minorities, women, and the disabled, 1990-1995.One of two hundred artists out of two thousand applicants chosen under the Federal CETA (Comprehensive Employment Training Act) for a position with the San Francisco Art Commission where he worked as a poet and editor from 1975-1980.In 1976, teamed with poet Paul Fericano to teach poetry to seventh and eighth-graders at two San Mateo County junior high schools.In 1980 produced the Second Coming Poets and Music Festival honoring poet Josephine Miles Blues Legend, John Lee Hooker, and poet and community activist Roberto Vargas.An active participant in the Folsom Prison Writer's Workshop using Second Coming to publish several prison poets.Appeared in the documentary film, "When I Die I Won't Stay Dead," on the life of poet Bob Kaufman, screened at the 2016 San Francisco International Film FestivalHe has performed at countless venues including, the Keystone Jazz Club, the Top of the Mark (Mark Hopkins Hotel), the Beat Museum, the Santa Cruz Poetry Festival, City Lights, and as the feature poet at the 2012 U.C. Davis Jazz and Beat Festival.Included in Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series (Gale Research) and Contemporary American Authors (Gale Research).