Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021), born in Yonkers, was a poet, painter, activist, and publisher. He was a major figure associated with the Beat movement, although he did not describe himself as a Beat. In 1953, he founded the City Lights Pocket Bookshop in San Francisco, which later also operated as a publishing house and issued numerous works by Beat writers. His poetry collection “A Coney Island of the Mind” (1958) became a bestseller in the United States and was translated into many languages. Ferlinghetti received numerous international awards and died in San Francisco in 2021.