Beat Poet Ferlingetti Has Died

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the Beat poet, publisher and founder of San Francisco's beloved City Lights bookstore, has died aged 101.

He passed away from lung disease on Monday evening, confirmed the store's vice president and director of marketing and publicity, Stacey Lewis.

One of the last surviving members of the Beat Generation, Ferlinghetti played a key role in expanding the literary movement's focus to the West Coast. An online tribute, posted to City Lights' website on Tuesday, said that Ferlinghetti had been "instrumental in democratizing American literature."

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