San Francisco Declares “Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day” on Poet’s 100th Birthday
The mayor of San Francisco declared this day “Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day” to celebrate the famed poet and bookstore owner Ferlinghetti.
Ferlinghetti co-founded the City Lights book store in 1953. It became a the center of the Beat Generation culture in the city culture that grew up in the city, eventually a major tourist attraction, and was finally declared a official landmark. Ferlinghetti was himself one of the major Beat Generation poets.
The Beat Museum is directly across the street from City Lights book store.
Ferlinghetti is most famous as the publisher of City Lights Books, and was prosecuted for obscenity in June 1957 for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s now-famous poem Howl, regarded today as perhaps the greatest artistic statement of the Beat Generation. He and his assistant were acquitted at trial in an important First Amendment case.
During his lifetime he won many awards. He was named the first Poet Laureate of San Francisco in 1998. In 2003 he was awarded the Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America. In 2005 the National Book Foundation cited him for his “tireless work on behalf of poets and the entire literary community for over 50 years.”
Ferlinghetti died on February 22, 2020 at age 101.
Learn more about Ferlinghetti here.
Read the biography: Barry Silesky, Ferlinghetti: The Artist in His Time (1990)
Visit the City Lights book store web site.
Visit the Beat Museum.
Read “Lawrence Ferlinghetti” at Poets.org