Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and publisher.  Born in Yonkers, he came of age in Paris, witnessing the literary bohemia surrounding such bookstores as Shakespeare and Company, which inspired his later activity in San Francisco’s North Beach. With Peter Martin, he started the legendary City Lights Bookstore. City Lights became a hangout for the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance poets. City Lights’ second publication, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, prompting a landmark censorship trial in 1956.  Lawrence Ferlinghetti was best known for A Coney Island of the Mind, which sold over a million copies.