From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lawrence Ferlinghetti Ferlinghetti in 1965 Born Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti March 24, 1919 Yonkers, New York, U.S. Died February 22, 2021 (aged 101) San Francisco, California, U.S. Occupation Poet activist essayist painter publisher Alma mater University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA) Columbia University (MA) University of Paris (PhD) Literary movement Beat poetry Years active 1940s–2021 Spouse Selden Kirby-Smith ​ ​ (m. 1951⁠–⁠1976)​ [1] Children 2[1]

Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers.[2] 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.[3] When Ferlinghetti turned 100 in March 2019, the city of San Francisco turned his birthday, March 24, into "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day"