Jack Kerouac was an American novelist and poet, best known for his 1957 novel "On the Road." He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922, and grew up in a French-Canadian working-class family. Kerouac began writing at a young age and was heavily influenced by the Beat Generation, a group of writers and artists in the 1950s who rejected mainstream American culture and values.

"On the Road" is considered one of the defining works of the Beat Generation and one of the most important novels of the 20th century. The semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a young man named Sal Paradise and his travels across America with his friend Dean Moriarty, a character based on Kerouac's own friend, Neal Cassady. The book is notable for its spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness style and its portrayal of the search for freedom and self-discovery in post-World War II America.

Kerouac wrote "On the Road" while living in Richmond Hill, Queens and Ozone Park, Queens in New York City. He typed the entire novel on a single, 120-foot-long scroll of paper in a three-week burst of creativity. The book was rejected by many publishers before finally being accepted by Viking Press in 1957.

Kerouac went on to write several other novels and collections of poetry, including "The Dharma Bums," "The Subterraneans," and "Big Sur." He died in 1969, at the age of 47, from internal bleeding caused by heavy drinking.