East Hollywood - Bukowski’s neighbourhood - by night. (© Howard Sounes)

Howard Sounes explains why he wrote Bukowski in Pictures

With all my books, I have taken great care over the picture sections, not least because when one browses in a book shop it is often the pictures one turns to first, reading into the book via the captions. If the pictures are judiciously chosen, well organised and supplied with informative captions, one is more likely to buy.

When I research a new book I collect as many photographs as I can from people connected to the subject, as well as taking my own snapshots. Later one buys in professional pictures, and over the years I have used work by some very notable photographers. For example, the cover of the US edition of Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life features a portrait of Bukowski by Herb Ritts.

During the research for Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life I was particularly fortunate in collecting many personal photographs of my subject, including some extremely rare items, such as a photo of Bukowski's legendary lover Jane Cooney Baker, often the model for women in his books as well as the character played by Faye Dunaway in the 1987 movie Barfly. A picture of Jane had not previously been published in relation to the author.

Interviewees, such as Bukowski's former girlfriend Linda King, were kind enough to allow me to copy their correspondence with the author; I also had access to manuscripts and documents relating to his life, including his FBI file, which had previously not been published.

All these items went into Bukowski in Pictures, together with new photographs which were bought in for the book, not least a remarkable portrait of Bukowski by the Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. I had first seen this powerful portrait framed at the home of Bukowski's publisher, John Martin, and felt that it had to be the cover image of Bukowski in Pictures.

Essentially, I see this as a companion work to the biography, Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life. For those with a deep interest in Bukowski, here are the places he lived and worked, and people he slept with, fought with and drank with.