Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, publisher and social activist born in 1919 in New York. He co-founded City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco in 1953, the first paperback bookstore in the US. City Lights published Allen Ginsberg's iconic poem "Howl" and faced obscenity charges, helping spark the Beat movement. Ferlinghetti pursued diverse creative and political causes, challenging traditions through his writing, visual art, pacifism, and championing of free speech and social change.