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San Francisco Poet Laureate Series
San Francisco's Telegraph Hill
Literary Arts Center at the Box Factory
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The goal of this nonprofit wing of City Lights is to foster the kind of deep literacy that is crucial in building communities, solving social problems, and sustaining cultural vitality.
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City Lights Books -- a bookstore/ publisher combination co-founded by the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953 – is known throughout the world as an important intellectual and literary catalyst.
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Please help us support the literacy of the future
For almost half a century, City Lights has demonstrated a commitment to preserving and promoting the diversity of voices and ideas that are represented in quality books. Now, as information technologies change the way people live and think, we are convinced that a community that continues to value writing and reading is essential to the future of a democratic society. With this in mind, we formed the City Lights Foundation, a non-profit cultural and educational foundation with the goal of advancing literacy and the literary arts.
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San Francisco Poet Laureate Series
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SAN FRANCISCO POEMS by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
San Francisco Poet Laureate Series #1
San Francisco's first Poet Laureate (1999-2000) has collected here all of his poems set in the city he has lived in for over a half a century. He brings alive, with wit and lyricism, scenes of city life: a baseball game, yachts on the Bay, a couple in Golden Gate Park, an artists' bar, the Green Street Mortuary Marching Band, and many others. Also included are historic photographs of Ferlinghetti and friends as well as his inaugural address as laureate, with his vision of the city's history as a poetic center and suggestions for keeping it that way.
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LOVE WORKS by Janice Mirikitani
San Francisco Poet Laureate Series #2
Love Works brings together a collection of Janice Mirikitani's strongest poems on a diversity of subjects: the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, family relationships, and the quest by people at the margins of society to claim justice, bread, and dignity. Also included is Mirikitani's inaugural address as San Francisco's Poet Laureate for 2000-2002, in which she discusses how poetry can connect people and transform lives.
Janice Mirikitani has lived in San Francisco since 1963. As Executive Director and President of Glide Foundation, she has created and directed programs at Glide Memorial Church for over thirty-five years. She is the author of three poetry books and has edited several anthologies of poetry and prose.
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where river meets ocean by devorah major
San Francisco Poet Laureate Series #3
This collection of poetry begins with the poet’s inaugural address as Laureate of San Francisco, a sparkling essay that shows how poetry can please and empower. Strong, introspective and caring, devorah major’s poems capture the challenge and joy of being an artist as they survey the political and social landscapes of one of America’s favorite cities,
“A visionary of hope, with a heart big enough to embrace every neighborhood, street and alley in this magical and poetical city. Here is a poet who shoots straight as Cupid’s arrow. Zing! Right to the heart.” — Alejandro Murguía
devorah major is a poet, novelist, and essayist who has published prize-winning works of fiction and poetry. Among her books are Open Weave, Brown Glass Windows, and street smarts. She lives in San Francisco and works as an editor and arts administrator.
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Conceived as a way to augment the Laureates’ work and impact, both within and beyond the boundaries of San Francisco, the Poet Laureate Series will be produced after each successive Laureate is chosen and inaugurated. Each volume will be comprised of the poet’s inaugural address, along with a selection of poems and/or essays. The book will thus function as a document of each Laureate’s poetic voice and vision for the city. It will be important as a historic and cultural artifact, useful as an educational tool, and is also sure to become a keepsake for the millions of visitors who come through San Francisco each year, a tangible example of the vital and unique cultural life of our city.
Free copies of each volume in the series will be provided to various institutions for use as educational resources. The San Francisco Public Library will make books available to all of its branches, and will encourage educators to utilize this resource. The remainder of the books are to be sold at the City Lights Bookstore, with proceeds from the sale benefiting the City Lights Foundation’s and Glide Foundation’s programs in the literary arts.
To order copies of either book, please see the City Lights Bookstore's Recently Released page, or email us here at staff@citylights.com. Bookstores and other retailers, City Lights Foundation's Poet Laureates Series is available from Consortium Book Sales & Distribution (1-800- 283-3572)
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Telegraph Hill
We have collaborated with the Telegraph Hill Dwellers Association to update and reprint David Myrick’s classic Telegraph Hill, a beautiful, lavishly illustrated book that is an invaluable community resource documenting the story of one of San Francisco’s most unique neighborhoods. To order a copy, please see our ordering instructions or email us here at staff@citylights.com.Bookstores and other retailers, please contact Small Press Distribution at http://www.spdbooks.org
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The Literary Arts Center @ The Box Factory
City Lights Foundation has joined forces with Youth Speaks/ The Living Word Project to create a new literary, cultural and community center at The Box Factory (an artists’ community under construction in San Francisco’s Mission District) that will present readings, lectures, exhibits, and workshops for teenagers and adults.
Designed to become an important resource for people of all ages and backgrounds, The Literary Arts Center @ The Box Factory will bring together the imaginative vision of both emerging and established writers with the practical skills of policy-makers, activists, and other citizens in an atmosphere where exploration, discussion, and communication lead to inspiration and empowerment.
We are committed to diversifying the cultural dialogue by giving writers of all ages the tools to help develop their individual voices in the community. We believe that literacy is an important key to a healthy society. Writers, poets, and literary performance artists can effect change through their creative work, and introduce new ways of thinking about contemporary and historical issues.
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