View source for Lawrence Ferlinghetti

{{Short description|American poet (1919–2021)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| image            = Lawrence-ferlinghetti-by-elsa-dorfman (cropped).jpg
| alt              = Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1965
| caption          = Ferlinghetti in 1965
| birth_name       = Lawrence Monsanto Ferling
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1919|3|24}}
| birth_place      = [[Yonkers, New York]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{nowrap|{{Death date and age|2021|2|22|1919|3|4}}}}
| death_place      = San Francisco, California, U.S.<!--Do NOT link per MOS:OVERLINK-->
| occupation       = {{cslist|Poet|activist|essayist|painter|publisher}}
| alma_mater       = {{plainlist|
* [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
* [[Columbia University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
* [[University of Paris]] (PhD)
}}
| movement         = [[Beat poetry]]
| yearsactive      = 1940s–2021
| spouse           = {{marriage|Selden Kirby-Smith|1951|1976}}<ref name="notbio">{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti Biography |url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Ca-Fi/Ferlinghetti-Lawrence.html |access-date=2014-02-18 |publisher=Notablebiographies.com}}</ref>
| children         = 2<ref name="notbio" />
}}
'''Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti''' ({{ne}} '''Ferling''';<ref>{{cite web|title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti|website=[[Poetry Foundation]]|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lawrence-ferlinghetti|quote=Poet, playwright, publisher, and activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born Lawrence Monsanto Ferling on March 24, 1919 in Yonkers, New York.}}</ref> March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of [[City Lights Bookstore|City Lights Booksellers & Publishers]].<ref name=WaPoObit/> An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, Ferlinghetti was best known for his second collection of poems, ''[[A Coney Island of the Mind]]'' (1958), which has been translated into nine languages and sold over a million copies.<ref name="abouthebeats">{{Cite web |last=Mark Howell |date=2007-09-30 |title=About The Beats: The Key West Interview: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1994 |url=http://abouthebeats.blogspot.com/2007/09/by-mark-howell-watchman-what-of-night.html |access-date=2014-02-18 |publisher=Abouthebeats.blogspot.com}}</ref> When Ferlinghetti [[Centenarian|turned 100]] in March 2019, the city of San Francisco turned his birthday, March 24, into "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Veltman |first=Chloe |date=March 20, 2019 |title=City Lights founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 'The US isn't ready for a revolution' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/19/lawrence-ferlinghetti-turned-100-interview-city-lights |access-date=March 24, 2019 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

==Early life==
Lawrence Monsanto Ferling was born on March 24, 1919, in [[Yonkers, New York]].<ref name="heritage">{{Cite web |title=Academic.Brooklyn |url=http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/modlang/carasi/via/ViaVol3_1Kirschenbaum.htm |access-date=October 30, 2006 |website=Lawrence Ferlinghetti's italianita}}</ref> 
Shortly before his birth, his father, Carlo Ferling (né Ferlinghetti), a native of [[Brescia]], died of a heart attack;<ref name=WaPoObit/> and his mother, Clemence Albertine (née Mendes-Monsanto), of [[Portuguese Jewish|Portuguese Sephardic Jewish]] descent, was committed to a mental hospital shortly after. Upon immigration to the United States, Carlo had shortened his surname, which Lawrence assumed and thus used it in his earlier works, until he knew his father's original surname through a birth certificate; By 1955, Lawrence then reverted his surname to Ferlinghetti.<ref name=WaPoObit/><ref name="SFGate2003">{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/CITY-LIGHTS-BOOKSTORE-50TH-ANNIVERSARY-The-birth-2611419.php|title=CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE 50TH ANNIVERSARY: The birth of cool: 1953 - 1960|last1= Benson|first1=Heidi|last2=Ganahl|first2=Jane|first3=Jesse|last3= Hamlin|first4=James|last4=Sullivan|website=SFGate|quote="GARY SNYDER: I began to see Lawrence and recognize who he was, chatting a little bit with him. I realized that he also wrote poetry. At that time his name was Larry Ferling. Later it became Lawrence Ferlinghetti, his real name."}}</ref><ref name="McCaslin2010">{{cite book|first1=Nikki |last1=McCaslin|first2=Richard |last2=Uhrlaub|first3=Marilyn |last3=Grotzky|title=Finding Our Place: 100 Memorable Adoptees, Fostered Persons, and Orphanage Alumni|publisher= Greenwood Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0313342707|page=150}}</ref> Lawrence was raised by an aunt, and later by foster parents.<ref name="Robinson 1984 119–120">{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Janice S. |year=1984 |title=Review of Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Poet-at-Large |journal=American Literature |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=119–20 |doi=10.2307/2925929 |jstor=2925929}}</ref> He attended the Mount Hermon School for Boys (later [[Northfield Mount Hermon]]) graduating in 1937, then the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]], where he earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in journalism in 1941. He began his journalism career by writing sports for ''[[The Daily Tar Heel]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zinser |first=Lynn |date=January 20, 2012 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti Revives His Love of the 49ers at 92 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/sports/football/lawrence-ferlinghetti-revives-his-love-of-the-49ers-at-92.html}}</ref> and published his first short stories in ''Carolina Magazine'', for which [[Thomas Wolfe]] had written.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Shannon |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Fearless Poet, Publisher, and Bookseller, Is Dead at 101 |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/lawrence-ferlinghetti-fearless-poet-publisher-and-bookseller-is-dead-at-101 |website=The Daily Beast |access-date=February 23, 2021 |language=en |date=24 February 2021}}</ref> 

He served in the [[U.S. Navy]] throughout [[World War II]], as the captain of a [[submarine chaser]] in the [[Operation Overlord|Normandy invasion]].<ref>{{cite news |title="On the Road," "Howl" and Poetry as Insurgent Art: Legendary Bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti on the Beat Generation |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/3/legendary_beat_generation_bookseller_and_poet |access-date=25 February 2021 |website=[[Democracy Now!]] |date=3 September 2007}}</ref> In 1947, he earned an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] degree in English literature from [[Columbia University]] with a thesis on [[John Ruskin]] and the British painter [[J. M. W. Turner]]. From Columbia, he went to the [[University of Paris]] and earned a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in comparative literature with a dissertation on "The City as Symbol in Modern Poetry: In Search of a Metropolitan Tradition".<ref name="sfgate2012">{{Cite web |last=Julian Guthrie |date=2012-09-24 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti's indelible image |url=http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Lawrence-Ferlinghetti-s-indelible-image-3886925.php |access-date=2014-02-18 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Charters |editor-first=Ann |editor-link=Ann Charters |title=The Portable Beat Reader |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1992 |page=245 |isbn=0-1401-5102-8}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Ferlinghetti met his wife-to-be, Selden Kirby-Smith, the granddaughter of [[Edmund Kirby-Smith]], in 1946 aboard a ship en route to France. They were both heading to Paris to study at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. Kirby-Smith went by the nickname Kirby.<ref name="sfgate2012" /> Their marriage produced two children before ending in divorce.

== City Lights ==
He moved to San Francisco in 1951 and founded [[City Lights Bookstore|City Lights]] in [[North Beach, San Francisco|North Beach]] in 1953, in partnership with [[Peter D. Martin]], a student at [[San Francisco State University]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ayyoub |first=Loureen |date=May 1, 2024 |orig-date=April 27, 2024 |title=San Francisco bookstore City Lights' dedication to community helps keep it in business - CBS San Francisco |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-bookstore-city-lights-dedication-to-community-helps-keep-it-in-business/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428172045/https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-bookstore-city-lights-dedication-to-community-helps-keep-it-in-business/ |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> They both invested $500.<ref name="chronicle obit">{{cite news |last1=Whiting |first1=Sam |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and founder of City Lights, dead at 101 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Lawrence-Ferlinghetti-poet-and-founder-of-City-15972997.php |access-date=23 February 2021 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> In 1955 Ferlinghetti bought Martin's share and established a publishing house with the same name.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Oscar Holland|title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti, celebrated Beat poet and publisher, dies aged 101|date=February 24, 2021 |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/poet-lawrence-ferlinghetti-death/index.html|access-date=2021-02-24|publisher=CNN|language=en}}</ref> The first series he published was the Pocket Poets Series. He was arrested for publishing [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s ''[[Howl (poem)|Howl]]'', resulting in a [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] trial in 1957, where Ferlinghetti was charged with publishing an obscene work—and acquitted.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kaplan |first=Fred |date=2010-09-24 |title=How 'Howl' Changed the World |language=en-US |work=Slate |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/life_and_art/2010/09/how_howl_changed_the_world.html |issn=1091-2339 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Poetry==
[[File:Lawrence Ferlinghetti in Speaking Portraits.jpg|thumb|Lawrence Ferlinghetti in Speaking Portraits]]
[[File:Lawrence Ferlinghetti's typewriter (NMAH 2011.0054).jpg|thumb|Ferlinghetti's typewriter, now in the [[National Museum of American History]]]]

{{poemquote|If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times,
even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.

You are [[Walt Whitman|Whitman]], you are [[Edgar Allan Poe|Poe]], you are [[Mark Twain]], you are [[Emily Dickinson]] and [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]], you are [[Pablo Neruda|Neruda]] and [[Vladimir Mayakovsky|Mayakovsky]] and [[Pier Paolo Pasolini|Pasolini]], you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words.... ||Lawrence Ferlinghetti. From ''Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]''.}}

Ferlinghetti published many of the [[Beat generation|Beat]] poets and is regarded by some as a Beat poet as well.<ref name="Gold 2013">{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Daniel |date=February 7, 2013 |title=A Beat Generation Star Who Won't Answer to that Name |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/movies/ferlinghetti-a-rebirth-of-wonder-by-christopher-felver.html |access-date=November 4, 2018}}</ref> But he did not consider himself a Beat poet, as he said in the 2013 documentary ''Ferlinghetti: Rebirth of Wonder'': "Don't call me a Beat. I never was a Beat poet."<ref name="Gold 2013" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Calderwood |first1=Brent |date=2021-03-01 |title='I Never Was a Beat Poet': Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Musical Vision |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/lawrence-ferlinghetti-beat-poet-musical-vision-1134730/ |access-date=2022-04-02 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Lawrence Ferlinghetti 2012 04.jpg|thumb|Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 2012 at [[Caffe Trieste]]]]

Ferlinghetti penned much of his early poetry in the vein of [[T. S. Eliot]].<ref name="Foley 2008">{{Cite magazine |last=Foley |first=Jack |year=2008 |title=A Second Coming |url=https://www.cprw.com/Foley/ferlinghetti.htm |magazine=[[Contemporary Poetry Review]] |access-date=November 4, 2018}}</ref> Ferlinghetti told poet and critic [[Jack Foley (poet)|Jack Foley]], "Everything I wrote sounded just like him."<ref name="Foley 2008" /> Yet even in his Eliot-inspired poems such as "Constantly Risking Absurdity", Ferlinghetti is ever the populist as he compares the poet first to a trapeze artist in a circus and then to a "little charleychaplin man."<ref name="Foley 2008" />

Critics have noted that Ferlinghetti's poetry often takes on a highly visual dimension as befits this poet who was also a painter.<ref name="Landauer 2015">{{Cite magazine |last=Landauer |first=Susan and Carl |date=March 1, 2015 |title=Open Eye, Open Palette: The Art of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. |magazine=[[Confrontation (journal)|Confrontation]] |volume=117 |issue=17 |pages=93–108}}</ref> As Jack Foley notes, Ferlinghetti's poems "tell little stories, make 'pictures'."<ref name="Foley cprw">{{Cite magazine |last=Foley |first=Jack |year=2008 |title=A Second Coming |url=http://www.cprw.com/Foley/ferlinghetti.htm |magazine=[[Contemporary Poetry Review]] |access-date=November 4, 2018}}</ref> Ferlinghetti as a poet paints with his words pictures full of color capturing the average American experience as seen in his poem "In Golden Gate Park that Day: "In [[Golden Gate Park]] that day/ a man and his wife were coming along/ ... He was wearing green suspenders ... while his wife was carrying a bunch of grapes."<ref name="Landauer 2015" /> 

In the first poem in ''A Coney Island of the Mind'' entitled, "In Goya's Greatest Scenes, We Seem To See," Ferlinghetti describes with words the "suffering humanity" that Goya portrayed by brush in his paintings.<ref name="Foley 2008" /> Ferlinghetti concludes his poem with the recognition that "suffering humanity" today might be painted as average Americans drowning in the materialism: "on a freeway fifty lanes wide/ a concrete continent/ spaced with bland billboards/ illustrating imbecile illusions of happiness."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ferlinghetti |first=Lawrence |url=https://archive.org/details/coneyislandofmin0000ferl_u7s4/page/1 |title=A Coney Island of the Mind |date=2015 |publisher=New Directions |isbn=978-0811217477 |edition=50th Anniversary |page=[https://archive.org/details/coneyislandofmin0000ferl_u7s4/page/1 1] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Ferlinghetti took a distinctly populist approach to poetry, emphasizing throughout his work "that art should be accessible to all people, not just a handful of highly educated intellectuals."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/lawrence-ferlinghetti |access-date=November 4, 2016 |website=Poetry Foundation}}</ref> [[Larry Smith (editor)|Larry Smith]], an American author and editor, stated that Ferlinghetti is a poet "of the people engaged conscientiously in the creation of new poetic and cultural forms."<ref name="Robinson 1984 119–120" /> This perception of art as a broad socio-cultural force, as opposed to an elitist academic enterprise, is explicitly evident in Poem 9 from ''Pictures of the Gone World'', wherein the speaker states: {{"'}}Truth is not the secret of a few' / yet / you would maybe think so / the way some / librarians / and cultural ambassadors and / especially museum directors / act" (1–8). In addition to Ferlinghetti's aesthetic egalitarianism, this passage highlights two additional formal features of the poet's work, namely, his incorporation of a common American idiom as well as his experimental approach to line arrangement which, as Crale Hopkins notes, is inherited from the poetry of [[William Carlos Williams]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hopkins |first=Crale |year=1974 |title=The Poetry of Lawrence Ferlinghetti: A Reconsideration |journal=[[Italian Americana]] |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=59–76 |jstor=29775818}}</ref>

Reflecting his broad aesthetic concerns, Ferlinghetti's poetry often engages with several non-literary artistic forms, most notably [[jazz music]] and painting. William Lawlor asserts that much of Ferlinghetti's free verse attempts to capture the spontaneity and imaginative creativity of modern jazz; the poet is noted for having frequently incorporated jazz accompaniments into public readings of his work.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawlor |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMZqLXP01e4C&q=ferlinghetti+jazz&pg=PA341 |title=Beat Culture: Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact |date=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1851094059 |location=Santa Barbara |pages=34–37 |access-date=November 4, 2016}}</ref>

==Political engagement==
Soon after settling in San Francisco in 1951, Ferlinghetti met the poet [[Kenneth Rexroth]], whose concepts of [[philosophical anarchism]] influenced his political development. He self-identified as a [[Philosophical anarchism|philosophical anarchist]], regularly associated with other anarchists in [[North Beach, San Francisco, California|North Beach]], and sold Italian anarchist newspapers at the [[City Lights Bookstore]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kelly |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Kelly (editor) |date=Winter 1988 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti – interview |work=[[Whole Earth Review]] |issue=61 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n61/ai_6896896 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628124345/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n61/ai_6896896/ |archive-date=2009-06-28}} "I'm in the anarchist tradition. By "anarchist" I don't mean someone with a homemade bomb in his pocket. I mean philosophical anarchism in the tradition of [[Herbert Read|Herbert Reed]] in England."</ref> While Ferlinghetti said he was "an anarchist at heart", he conceded that the world would need to be populated by "saints" in order for pure [[anarchism]] to be lived practically. Hence he espoused what can be achieved by Scandinavian-style [[democratic socialism]].<ref>Felver, Christopher. 1996 ''The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti''. San Francisco: Mystic Fire Video [documentary film].</ref>

In the early 1960s, Ferlinghetti was a supporter of the [[Fair Play for Cuba Committee]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Michael |title=Radical Chapters Pacifist Bookseller Roy Kepler and the Paperback Revolution |date=2012 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |page=203}}</ref> On January 14, 1967, he was a featured presenter at the [[Gathering of the tribes]] "[[Human Be-In]]," which drew tens of thousands of people and launched what would become known as San Francisco's "[[Summer of Love]]". In 1968, Ferlinghetti signed the "[[Writers and Editors War Tax Protest]]" pledge, vowing to refuse to pay his Federal [[income tax]] as a [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|protest against the Vietnam War]].<ref>"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest", ''[[New York Post]]'', January 30, 1968.</ref> 

In 1998, in his inaugural address as Poet Laureate of San Francisco, Ferlinghetti urged San Franciscans to vote to remove a portion of the earthquake-damaged [[Central Freeway]] and replace it with a [[Octavia Boulevard|boulevard]]: {{quote|"What destroys the poetry of a city? Automobiles destroy it, and they destroy more than the poetry. All over America, all over Europe in fact, cities and towns are under assault by the automobile, are being literally destroyed by car culture. But cities are gradually learning that they don't have to let it happen to them. Witness our beautiful new [[Embarcadero (San Francisco)|Embarcadero]]! And in San Francisco right now we have another chance to stop Autogeddon from happening here. Just a few blocks from here, the ugly [[Central Freeway]] can be brought down for good if you vote for Proposition E on the November ballot."<ref>[http://www.citylights.com/Ferlinghetti/?fa=ferlinghetti_interviews "Poetry and City Culture"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110075829/http://www.citylights.com/Ferlinghetti/?fa=ferlinghetti_interviews |date=January 10, 2019 }}. Address at the San Francisco Public Library, October 13, 1998. Retrieved February 19, 2016.</ref>}}

==Painting==
Alongside his bookselling and publishing, Ferlinghetti painted for 60 years and much of his work was displayed in galleries and museums throughout the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal |year=2008 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti Wins the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry |journal=Italian Americana |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=167–170 |jstor=41353794}}</ref>

Ferlinghetti painted ''The beautiful Madonna of Sandusky Oh! hi! O! And friend'' during a 1996 visit to an art co-op in [[Sandusky, Ohio]], which was subsequently [[Vandalism|vandalized]] and [[Censorship|censored]] by a janitor the night after it was painted.<ref name="blade sandusky">{{cite news |title=Ferlinghetti made art here |url=https://sanduskyregister.com/news/307589/ferlinghetti-made-art-here/ |access-date=11 May 2022 |work=sanduskyregister.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lane |first1=Tahree |title=Renowned poet's artwork, touched up by prudish janitor, is displayed at BGSU |url=https://www.toledoblade.com/a-e/books/2007/03/11/Renowned-poet-s-artwork-touched-up-by-prudish-janitor-is-displayed-at-BGSU/stories/200703110020 |access-date=11 May 2022 |work=The Blade |date=March 11, 2007 |language=en}}</ref> Ferlinghetti responded to this act by painting a humorous retort on areas of the canvas where censorship had occurred.<ref name="blade sandusky"/>

A retrospective of Ferlinghetti's artwork, ''60 Years of Painting'', was staged in [[Rome]] and [[Reggio Calabria]] in 2010.<ref>''Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 60 years of painting'', edited by Giada Diano and Elisa Polimeni, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo (MI), 2009</ref>

==Jack Kerouac Alley==
[[File:Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations by Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Jack Kerouac Alley.jpg|thumbnail|200px|A sample of Ferlinghetti's work in San Francisco's [[Jack Kerouac Alley]], adjacent to the City Lights Bookstore]]
In 1987, he was the initiator of the transformation of [[Jack Kerouac Alley]], located at the side of his shop. He presented his idea to the [[San Francisco Board of Supervisors]] calling for repavement and renewal.<ref name="sfgate1">{{Cite news |last=Nolte |first=Carl |date=March 30, 2007 |title=Kerouac Alley has face-lift |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Kerouac-Alley-has-face-lift-2605999.php |access-date=November 18, 2007}}</ref>

==Death==
Ferlinghetti died of [[interstitial lung disease]] on February 22, 2021, at his home in San Francisco, a month before his 102nd birthday. He was buried in his family plot at Bolinas Cemetery in [[Bolinas, California]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sfist.com/2021/02/23/san-francisco-poet-and-city-lights-founder-lawrence-ferlinghetti-dies-at-101/ | title=San Francisco Poet and City Lights Founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti Dies at 101 | date=February 23, 2021 | access-date=July 9, 2023 | archive-date=July 9, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709181143/https://sfist.com/2021/02/23/san-francisco-poet-and-city-lights-founder-lawrence-ferlinghetti-dies-at-101/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=WaPoObit>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/lawrence-ferlinghetti-dead/2021/02/23/37b2a134-edd5-11df-abf5-a1622994c5f5_story.html |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti, literary citadel of San Francisco, dies at 101 |date=February 23, 2021 |last=Brown |first=Emma |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=February 23, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Len |last=Beyea |date=28 February 2021 |title=Tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, March 24, 1919 - February 23, 2021 - Poet, Publisher, Painter, Raconteur |url=https://ksqd.org/tribute-to-lawrence-ferlinghetti-march-24-1919-february-23-2021-poet-publisher-painter-raconteur/ |access-date=26 December 2021 |website=ksqd.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-02-23|title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti—the San Francisco poet, publisher and bookseller—has died|url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-02-23/lawrence-ferlinghetti-city-lights-dead|access-date=2021-12-26|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=McKinley|first=Jesse|date=2021-02-23|title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet Who Nurtured the Beats, Dies at 101|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/obituaries/lawrence-ferlinghetti-dead.html|access-date=2021-12-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Awards==
[[File:Premio Carriera Ferlinghetti.JPG|thumb|Career Award Plaque conferred on October 28, 2017, at the ''Premio di Arti Letterarie Metropoli di Torino'', Italy]]
Ferlinghetti received numerous awards, including the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''' [[Los Angeles Times Book Prize#Robert Kirsch Award|Robert Kirsch Award]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/bookprizes-award/#kirsch|title=BookPrizes by Award - 2019|access-date=February 26, 2021|archive-date=March 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327164953/https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/bookprizes-award/#kirsch|url-status=dead}}</ref> the BABRA Award for Lifetime Achievement, <!-- Bay Area Book Reviewers' Association?---> the [[National Book Critics Circle]] Ivan Sandrof Award for Contribution to American Arts and Letters,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1999/|title=1999|website=National Book Critics Circle}}</ref> and the ACLU [[Earl Warren]] Civil Liberties Award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/238856/lawrence-ferlinghetti/|title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti &#124; Penguin Random House}}</ref> He won the Premio Taormina in 1973, and thereafter was awarded the Premio Camaiore, the Premio Flaiano, the Premio Cavour, among other honors in [[Italy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti/|title=City Lights Books|access-date=February 26, 2021|archive-date=January 28, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128162521/http://www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ''Career Award'' was conferred on October 28, 2017 at the XIV edition of the ''Premio di Arti Letterarie Metropoli di Torino'' in [[Turin]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arte Città Amica |url=http://www.artecittaamica.it |access-date=November 10, 2017 |publisher=Arte Città Amica}}</ref>

Ferlinghetti was named San Francisco's Poet Laureate in August 1998 and served for two years. In 2003 he was awarded the [[Poetry Society of America]]'s Frost Medal,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://poetrysociety.org/award-winners/name/frost-award|title = Award Winners}}</ref> the Author's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pw.org/content/ferlinghetti_and_williams_inducted_american_academy_arts_and_letters|title = Ferlinghetti and Williams Inducted into American Academy of Arts and Letters|website=Poets & Writers|date = May 27, 2003}}</ref> The [[National Book Foundation]] honored him with the inaugural [[Literarian Award]] (2005), given for outstanding service to the American literary community.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/lawrence-ferlinghetti-accepts-the-2005-literarian-award/|title = Lawrence Ferlinghetti Accepts the 2005 Literarian Award|website=National Book Foundation|date =November 16, 2005|access-date= February 29, 2016}}</ref> In 2007 he was named Commandeur, [[French Order of Arts and Letters]]. In 2008, Ferlinghetti was awarded the [[John Ciardi]] Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41353794|jstor = 41353794|title = Lawrence Ferlinghetti Wins the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry|journal = Italian Americana|year = 2008|volume = 26|issue = 2|pages = 167–170}}</ref> This award is handed out by the National Italian American Foundation to honor the author who has made the greatest contribution to the writing of Italian American poetry.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

In 2012, Ferlinghetti was awarded the inaugural [[Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize]] from the [[Hungarian PEN Club]]. After learning that the government of Hungary under Prime Minister [[Viktor Orbán]] is a partial sponsor of the {{currency|50,000|EUR}} prize, he declined to accept the award. In declining, Ferlinghetti cited his opposition to the "right-wing regime" of Prime Minister Orbán, and his opinion that the ruling Hungarian government under Mr. Orbán is curtailing civil liberties and freedom of speech for the people of [[Hungary]].<ref name="young">{{Cite web |last=Christopher Young |date=October 12, 2012 |title=Beat this: Lawrence Ferlinghetti refuses Hungarian cash award |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/10/beat-this-lawrence-ferlinghetti-refuses-hungarian-cash-award |access-date=October 15, 2012 |website=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]|location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carolyn Kellogg |date=October 11, 2012 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti declines Hungarian award over human rights |url=http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-jc-lawrence-ferlinghetti-hungarian-award-human-rights-20121011,0,2002635.story |access-date=October 15, 2012 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ron Friedman and AP |date=October 13, 2012 |title=Following Elie Wiesel's Lead, US Poet Rejects Hungarian Award |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |url=http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=3&ARTICLE_ID=32857 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705021952/http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=3&ARTICLE_ID=32857 |archive-date=July 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harriet Staff |date=October 11, 2012 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti Declines 50,000 Euro Prize from Hungarian PEN Club |url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2012/10/lawrence-ferlinghetti-declines-50000-euro-prize-from-hungarian-pen-club/ |access-date=October 15, 2012 |website=[[Poetry Foundation]]}}</ref>

==In popular culture==

[[Frank Zappa]] namedropped Lawrence Ferlinghetti as one of the people who influenced his band's music, in the sleeve of his debut album ''[[Freak Out!]]'' (1966).<ref>{{cite web | title=Freak Out! List Of Contributors | website=Los Marañones | date=2006-07-29 | url=https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/Freak_Out_Contributors.html | access-date=2025-09-03}}</ref>

Ferlinghetti recited the poem ''Loud Prayer'' at [[The Band]]'s final performance; the concert was filmed by [[Martin Scorsese]] and released as a documentary entitled ''[[The Last Waltz]]'' (1978), which included Ferlinghetti's recitation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/01/the-band-the-lords-prayer-lawrence-ferlinghetti.html|title=The Band - the Lord's Prayer (Lawrence Ferlinghetti)|work=Paste Magazine |date=September 14, 2015}}</ref> Ferlinghetti was the subject of the 2013 [[Christopher Felver]] documentary, ''Lawrence Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder''.<ref name="The New York Times">{{Cite news |date=February 7, 2013 |title=A Beat-Generation Star Who Won't Answer to the Name |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/movies/ferlinghetti-a-rebirth-of-wonder-by-christopher-felver.html |access-date=May 26, 2015}}</ref> Andrew Rogers played Ferlinghetti in the 2010 film [[Howl (2010 film)|''Howl'']].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/23/lawrence-ferlinghetti-poet-activist-dies-471233|title = Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and activist, dies at 101|website = [[Politico]]|agency=Associated Press|date=February 23, 2021}}</ref> [[Christopher Felver]] made the 2013 documentary on Ferlinghetti, ''Lawrence Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder''.<ref name="The New York Times"/>

In 2011, Ferlinghetti contributed two of his poems to the celebration of the 150th [[anniversary of Italian unification]], ''Song of the Third World War'' and ''Old Italians Dying'' inspired by the artists of the exhibition ''Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Italy 150'' held in [[Turin]], [[Italy]] (May–June 2011).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-06-03 |title=Evento Ferlinghetti: La poesia incontra l'arte |url=http://www.artecittaamica.it/mostre/2011/0527/to7.pdf |access-date=February 18, 2014 |website=LA STAMPA |publisher=Arte Citta' Amica}}</ref> On the book of lithographs ''The Sea Within Us'' first published in Italy as ''Il Mare Dentro'' in 2012, Ferlinghetti collaborated with lithographer and abstract artist [[James Claussen]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jamesclaussen.com/about-james-claussen.html|title=About James Claussen|website=James Claussen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Sea Within Us |date=February 14, 2013|publisher=Aletti Editore|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Within-Us-Lawrence-Ferlinghetti-ebook/dp/B00BG0HJ6G}}</ref> [[Julio Cortázar]], in his ''[[Rayuela]]'' (''Hopscotch'') (1963), references a poem from ''A Coney Island of the Mind'' in Chapter 121.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bonet |first1=Juan Manuel |title=Para un diccionario Cortázar-París |journal=Rayuela: El París de Cortázar |date=May 2013 |page=131 |access-date= 25 February 2021 |publisher=Instituto Cervantes París |url=https://ep00.epimg.net/descargables/2013/06/28/2783ac7deb8601250cdb495da52e0dfd.pdf}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|lcheading= Ferlinghetti, Lawrence}}
<!-- Clean up
*{{Cite book |last=Ferlinghetti |first=Lawrence}} -->
*{{Cite book |last=Ferlinghetti |first=Lawrence |author-mask=0 |title=Pictures of the Gone World, (enlarged, 1995) |date=1955 |publisher=City Lights |location=San Francisco }}
*{{Cite book |last=Ferlinghetti |first=Lawrence |author-mask=0 |url=http://ndbooks.com/author/lawrence-ferlinghetti |title=A Coney Island of the Mind |date=1958 |publisher=New Directions }}
<!-- Clean up from here down. -->
*''Tentative Description of a Dinner Given to Promote the Impeachment of President Eisenhower'' (Golden Mountain Press, 1958) Broadside poem
*''Her'' (New Directions, 1960) Prose
*''One Thousand Fearful Words for Fidel Castro'' (City Lights, 1961) Broadside poem
*''[[Starting from San Francisco]]'' (New Directions, 1961) Poetry (HC edition includes LP of author reading selections)
*''Journal for the Protection of All Beings'' (City Lights, 1961) Journal
*''Unfair Arguments with Existence'' (New Directions, 1963) Short Plays
*''Where is VietNam?'' (Golden Mountain Press, 1963) Broadside poem
*''Routines'' (New Directions, 1964) 12 Short Plays
*''[[Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes]]'' (1968)
*''On the Barracks: Journal for the Protection of All Beings 2'' (City Lights, 1968) Journal
*''Tyrannus Nix?'' (New Directions, 1969) Poetry
*''The Secret Meaning of Things'' (New Directions, 1970) Poetry
*''The Mexican Night'' (New Directions, 1970) Travel journal
*''Back Roads to Far Towns After Basho'' (City Lights, 1970) Poetry
*''Love Is No Stone on the Moon'' (ARIF, 1971) Poetry
*''Open Eye, Open Heart'' (New Directions, 1973) Poetry
*''Who Are We Now?'' (New Directions, 1976) Poetry
*''Northwest Ecolog'' (City Lights, 1978) Poetry
*''Landscapes of Living and Dying'' (1980) {{ISBN|0-8112-0743-9}}
*''Endless Life, Selected Poems'' (A New Directions Paperbook, 1981) 
*''Over All the Obscene Boundaries'' (1986)
*''Love in the Days of Rage'' (E. P. Dutton, 1988; City Lights, 2001) Novel
*''Wild Dreams of a New Beginning'' (New Directions, 1988) {{ISBN|978-0811210744}}
*''A Buddha in the Woodpile'' (Atelier Puccini, 1993)
*''These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955–1993'' (New Directions, 1993) {{ISBN|0-8112-1252-1}}
*''City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology'' (City Lights, 1995) {{ISBN|978-0-87286-311-8}}
*''A Far Rockaway Of The Heart'' (New Directions, 1997) {{ISBN|0-8112-1347-1}}
*''How to Paint Sunlight: Lyrics Poems & Others, 1997–2000'' (New Directions, 2001) {{ISBN|0-8112-1463-X}}
*''San Francisco Poems'' (City Lights Foundation, 2001) Poetry {{ISBN|978-1-931404-01-3}}
*''Life Studies, Life Stories'' (City Lights, 2003) {{ISBN|978-0-87286-421-4}}
*''Americus: Part I'' (New Directions, 2004)
*''A Coney Island of the Mind'' (Arion Press, 2005), with portraiture by [[R.B. Kitaj]]
*''Poetry as Insurgent Art'' (New Directions, 2007) Poetry
*''A Coney Island of the Mind: Special 50th Anniversary Edition with a CD of the author reading his work'' (New Directions, 2008)
*''50 Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti 50 Images by Armando Milani'' (Rudiano, 2010) Poetry and Graphics {{ISBN|978-88-89044-65-0}}
*''Time of Useful Consciousness'', (''Americus, Book II'') (New Directions, 2012) {{ISBN|978-0-8112-2031-6}}, 88p.
*''City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology: 60th Anniversary Edition'' (City Lights, 2015)
*''I Greet You At The Beginning Of A Great Career: The Selected Correspondence of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg 1955–1997''. (City Lights, 2015)
*''Pictures of the Gone World: 60th Anniversary Edition'' (City Lights, 2015)
*''Writing Across the Landscape: Travel Journals, 1960-2010'' (Norton, 2015) {{ISBN|978-1-63149-001-9}}
*{{Cite book |last=Ferlinghetti |first=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=99dhDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Lawrence+Ferlinghetti%22+%22little+boy%22 |title=Little Boy |date=2019 |publisher=[[Random House|Doubleday]] |isbn=978-0385544795}} Novel

==Discography==
*{{Cite AV media |title=Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness |year=1997 |last=Lawrence Ferlinghetti with Helium |language=English |publisher=Rykodisc |section=Track 8: Dream: On A Sunny Afternoon ...}}
*{{Cite AV media |title=Poetry Readings in the Cellar (with the Cellar Jazz Quintet) |year=1957 |last=Kenneth Rexroth & Lawrence Ferlinghetti |language=English |publisher=Fantasy Records |id=7002 |medium=LP}}
*{{Cite AV media |title=The Impeachment of Eisenhower |year=1958 |last=Lawrence Ferlinghetti |language=English |publisher=Fantasy Records |id=7004 |medium=LP}}
*{{Cite AV media |title=Tyrannus Nix? / Assassination Raga / Big Sur Sun Sutra / Moscow in the Wilderness |year=1970 |last=Lawrence Ferlinghetti |language=English |publisher=Fantasy Records |id=7014 |medium=LP}}
*{{Cite AV media |title=A Coney Island of the Mind |year=1999 |last=Lawrence Ferlinghetti |language=English |publisher=Rykodisc |medium=LP}}
*{{Cite AV media |title=Pictures of the Gone World |year=2005 |last=Lawrence Ferlinghetti with David Amram |publisher=Synergy}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book |last=Cherkovski |first=Neeli |title=Ferlinghetti: A Biography |date=1979 |publisher=Doubleday |location=New York}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Ronald |title=Mania: The Story of the Outraged & Outrageous Lives that Launched a Cultural Revolution |last2=Skover |first2=David |date=2013 |publisher=Top-Five Books}}
*{{Cite book |title=I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great Career: The Selected Correspondence of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg, 1955–1997 |date=2015 |publisher=City Lights Publishers |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Bill |location=San Francisco}}
*{{Cite book |last=Pescara |first=Walter |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Italian Tour |date=2005 |publisher=Nicolodi |quote=2006 – special edition, not for sale}}
*{{Cite book |last=Silesky |first=Barry |title=Ferlinghetti: The Artist in His Time |date=1990 |publisher=Warner Books |location=New York}}
*{{Cite news |last=Silverberg |first=Ira |year=2018 |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti on the old San Francisco, his new novel, and his first 100 years |language=en-US |work=[[Document Journal]] |url=http://www.documentjournal.com/2018/12/lawrence-ferlinghetti-on-the-old-san-francisco-his-new-novel-and-his-first-100-years |access-date=2018-12-16 |df=mdy-all}}
*{{Cite book |last=Skau |first=Michael |title=Constantly Risking Absurdity: The Writings of Lawrence Ferlinghetti |date=1989 |publisher=Whitson}}
*{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Larry R. |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Poet-at-Large |date=1983 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |location=Carbondale, IL}}
*{{Cite book |last=Theado |first=Matt |title=The Beats: A Literary Reference |date=2003 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |location=New York}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links |wikt=no |commons=Category:Lawrence Ferlinghetti |b= no|n= no|q= Lawrence Ferlinghetti |s= no|v=no |voy= no|species= no|d= no|mw=no |display=Lawrence Ferlinghetti }}

*[https://www.archivioconz.com/collection/artists/lawrence-ferlinghetti/ Archivio Conz]
*{{IMDb name|0272732}}
*{{Cite web |title=Guide to the Lawrence Ferlinghetti Papers |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf5p3004sf}} at [[The Bancroft Library]]
*{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti at Literary Kicks |date = August 18, 1994|url=http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=LawrenceFerlinghetti}}
*{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti at American Poetry |url=http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Lawrence-Ferlinghetti}}
*{{Cite web |title=Amy Goodman Interview (Transcript and streaming media) |website=[[Democracy Now!]]|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/24/legendary_beat_generation_bookseller_and_poet}}
*{{Cite web |date=May 2013 |title=Interview Magazine, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, by Christopher Bollen |url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/lawrence-ferlinghetti#_}}
*{{Cite web |title=1978 audio interview Lawrence Ferlinghetti with Stephen Banker |date=January 7, 2015 |via=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Tx0hrryCI}}
*[https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078753 Finding aid to Lawrence Ferlinghetti papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.]
*"[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/25/how-san-francisco-bookstore-owner-made-america-freer-braver-more-interesting/ How a San Francisco bookstore owner made America freer, braver and more interesting]," [[The Washington Post]], Feb. 25, 2021.
*[https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/ferlinghetti-san-francisco Ferlinghetti for San Francisco] 2025 Exhibition of Ferlinghetti’s prints at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. [https://www.famsf.org/stories/changing-light-lawrence-ferlinghetti Ferlinghetti reading his poem The Changing Light]

{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960}}
{{Poets Laureate of San Francisco}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Poetry}}

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