Founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, City Lights is a legendary independent bookstore in San Francisco. The nation’s first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights (which also has a publishing arm) has expanded several times over the years; it now features an extensive and in-depth selection of hardcover and paperback poetry, fiction, translations, politics, history, philosophy, music, spirituality, and more. A vibrant force at the store for more than forty years, Paul Yamazaki City Light’s renowned head buyer, has become hugely influential throughout the publishing industry.
