Posted on February 23, 2021 at 2:15 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti died Monday, just a month shy of his 102nd birthday.

His son Lorenzo Ferlinghetti confirmed his father’s death of interstitial lung disease to the media and said it took place at his home, with his family by his side.

The elder Ferlinghetti broke onto the literary scene with the poetry collection A Coney Island of the Mind and remained there for over half a century — his novel Little Boy came out in 2018, the same year he turned 100.

Beyond his writing, the elder Ferlinghetti was beloved for his publishing work, most notably Allan Ginsberg’s Howl (for which he was arrested on obscenity charges), and for founding San Francisco’s City Lights bookstore.

You can read full obituaries in the Guardian, the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the City Lights website (among many, many other places).

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Obituary, Poetry

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