Who is Lawrence Ferlinghetti from The Portable Beat Reader and what is their importance? The_Portable_Beat_Reader English & Literature Lawrence Ferlinghetti | The Portable Beat Reader

Lawrence Ferlinghetti was a poet of the San Francisco Renaissance. He was also the founder of City Lights bookstore in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. City Lights becomes the primary outlet for Beat authors in the 1950s and 1960s. It publishes Ginsberg's "Howl" in 1957. After the poem's publication, Ferlinghetti was brought to trial on obscenity charges. He was, however, found not guilty when the poem was determined not to be obscene. Ferlinghetti's own poetry is centered on his political views.