( by JD Jung)
“As long as there is poetry, there will be an unknown; as long as there is an unknown there will be poetry. The function of the independent press (besides being essentially dissident) is still to discover, to find the new voices and give voice to them.”––Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Happy #100 to writer, poet, publisher, painter and social, political and free speech activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti!
Ferlinghetti also co-founded my favorite bookstore, City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco. In addition to carrying a wide selection of genres, City Lights gives a voice to the marginalized in our society. It also carries an impressive selection of translated world literature.
Ferlinghetti published many of the “Beat” poets such as Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems in the City Lights Pocket Poets series. In fact, he was arrested in 1957 on obscenity charges for publishing Howl. You can learn more about the Howl Obscenity Trial here.
I am currently reading his latest work, Little Boy, which was just released on March 19, 2019. I hope to finish and review it here on UnderratedReads soon.
You can learn more about this literary icon here.
BTW check out our post on Trump’s Trojan Horse.
