Lawrence
Ferlinghetti,
distinguished
American
poet,
artist,
and
founder
of
City
Lights
Booksellers
and
Publishers
died
in
San
Francisco,
California.
He
was
101
years
old.
Ferlinghetti
was
instrumental
in
democratizing
American
literature
by
creating
(with
Peter
D.
Martin)
the
country's
first
all-paperback
bookstore
in
1953,
jumpstarting
a
movement
to
make
diverse
and
inexpensive
quality
books
widely
available.
He
envisioned
the
bookstore
as
a
"Literary
Meeting
Place,"
where
writers
and
readers
could
congregate
to
shares
ideas
about
poetry,
fiction,
politics,
and
the
arts.
Two
years
later,
in
1955,
he
launched
City
Lights
Publishers
with
the
objective
of
stirring
an
"international
dissident
ferment."
His
inaugural
edition
of
Pictures
of
the
Gone
World
was
the
first
volume
of
the
City
Lights
Pocket
Poets
Series,
a
series
which
proved
to
be
a
seminal
force
in
shaping
American
poetry.
Ferlinghetti
is
the
author
of
one
of
the
best-selling
poetry
books
of
all
time, A
Coney
Island
of
the
Mind,
among
many
other
works.
He
continued
to
write
and
publish
new
work
up
until
he
was
100
years
old,
and
his
work
has
earned
him
a
place
in
the
American
canon.
Though
we
mourn
his
passing,
we
celebrate
his
many
contributions
and
give
thanks
for
all
the
years
we
were
able
to
work
by
his
side.
City
Lights
will
invite
the
public
to
a
celebration
of
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti's
life
at
some
point
later
this
year,
but
there
is
no
immediate
plan
in
place.
