RIP, Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher and activist who founded the famous City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, died yesterday at the age of 101. Though straight, Ferlinghetti was practically a patron saint for gay authors like Allen Ginsberg (standing trial on obscenity charges for publishing Howl in 1956), as well as many of the Beat writers. Here are obituaries from the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, New York Times and Guardian.