Allen Ginsberg Reads “Howl” for the First Time
American poet Allen Ginsburg gave his first public reading of his famous poem Howl at the Six Gallery, in San Francisco on this day.
Howl, a classic statement of the Beat Generation, is now regarded as one of the most important poems in American history. When first published, however, it was censored. Copies of the poem, printed in England, were seized by U.S. Customs on March 25, 1957. Then, the publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti and his assistant were arrested on obscenity charges in San Francisco (June 3, 1957). They were acquitted on October 3, 1957.
Ferlinghetti, himself a noted Beat Generation poet, was the c0-founder and owner of City Lights Books in 1953. In 2019 March 24th was declared Ferlinghetti Day in honor of his 100th birthday.
In 2001 the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors named City Lights Bookstore a Historic Landmark.
See and hear Ginsberg read Howl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGoY9gom50
If you are in San Francisco, be sure to visit City Lights Books: http://citylights.com/
Learn more about the great poet: Bill Morgan, I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg (2006)
Visit the Beat Museum in San Francisco: http://www.kerouac.com/