Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born on March 24th, 1919 in Yonkers, New York. He attended Columbia College, where he studies with Martin Can Doren and Lionel Trilling. He served briefly in World War II, and received a M.A. from Columbia in 1948. He also studied at the Sorbonne and received a Ph.D. in 1951. Two years later, he moved to San Francisco and opened the City Lights Bookstore, the country's first all-paperback bookstore. In 1955, he founded the City Lights Book Press. A year later, Ginsberg's "Howl" was published. This was the first work published at City Lights, and it earned Ferlinghetti's business international renown... and a court trial on obscenity charges (for his role as publisher).The case was won however, for freedom of speech; the trial was acquitted. Lawrence Ferlinghetti still owns and publishes in his bookstore and press to this day.
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