Lawrence Ferlinghetti: US poet and publisher dies aged 101

Lawrence Ferlinghetti has been described as "poetry's rock star"

US poet, publisher and activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, one of the leading figures of the beat movement, has died at the age of 101.

Ferlinghetti printed novels and poems by the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S Burroughs.

He died on Monday in San Francisco, according to The City Lights bookshop, which he founded in 1953.

"His curiosity was unbounded and his enthusiasm was infectious, and we will miss him greatly," a statement said.

City Lights said his decision to open the first all-paperback bookstore in the US "was instrumental in democratising American literature" and helped jumpstart "a movement to make diverse and inexpensive quality books widely available".

The statement added: "For over 60 years, those of us who have worked with him at City Lights have been inspired by his knowledge and love of literature, his courage in defence of the right to freedom of expression, and his vital role as an American cultural ambassador."

Following the news of his death on Tuesday, fans gathered outside his book shop for an impromptu vigil.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (top, hooded) outside his famous shop with Allan Ginsberg and other beatniks

Born in New York in 1919, Ferlinghetti moved to the west coast in 1951 and his shop soon acted as hub for progressive politics and a magnet for the bohemian beat generation.

Rejecting mainstream conservative values, economic materialism and war, they instead focused on spirituality, the human condition and sexual liberation, as well as the use of psychedelic drugs. As a result, the writers and the shop itself remain popular among many thrill-seeking young people.

Ferlinghetti's best known work was his first collection of poems, 1958's A Coney Island Of The Mind, which was written for a jazz accompaniment. But his most famous release was Ginsberg's controversial epic poem Howl, which is considered by many to be one of the great works of American literature.

The poem's references to drugs and gay and straight sex led to a high-profile trial in 1957, which saw Ferlinghetti and City Lights manager Shigeyoshi Murao charged with disseminating obscene literature.

'Defining moment'

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday, Elaine Katzenberger, executive director of the City Lights Trust, said the book's publication and the subsequent case was the "defining moment" in Ferlinghetti's life and career.

"Lawrence knew he was taking a risk publishing that poem," she said. "He could have lost his business. He could have gone to jail. But he believed so much and in the quality of what Ginsberg was doing with that poem, it was definitely a groundbreaking work.

"For Lawrence, what inspired him the most was the way in which Ginsberg was breaking open doors within the poetic form, but also it was the indictment of the military industrial complex and consumer culture and the stultifying atmosphere of the 1950s in the United States."

Ferlinghetti has been credited with helping to turn many young people on to poetry

She went on to note how Ferlinghetti has been described as "poetry's rock star" and how he was "hugely influential" in helping many young people get "turned on to poetry".

"Today there is a lot of language to describe what Lawrence was doing. I don't think it really existed at the time," said Katzenberger.

"Today we talk about inclusivity and marginalised communities and under-represented voices, but I don't really think there was a vocabulary like that for the impulse that Lawrence had at that time, and so from the very beginning City Lights bookstore was a place that represented that variety for people to find."

His name was brought into the wider public consciousness in the UK via the 1983 film Educating Rita, in which Julie Walters' English student, when asked if she was fond of Ferlinghetti, thought to herself, "only when served with parmesan cheese".

While he put out work by many of the beat poets, the publisher said in a 2013 documentary he did not think of himself as part of the movement. "Don't call me a beat. I was never a beat poet," he told an interviewer.

The playwright, novelist and painter also appeared in Martin Scorsese's documentary The Last Waltz, reciting The Lord's Prayer at The Band's farewell concert in 1976.

His son Lorenzo told the Associated Press his death was a result of lung disease, adding that his father had received his first dose of a Covid vaccine last week.