City Lights devotees give $500,000 to help bookshop survive coronavirus
(The Guardian Books News)

Iconic San Francisco store that published Allen Ginsberg´s Howl announced on Friday it was in crisis, and quickly drew `outpouring of love´ on GoFundMeCity Lights, the iconic San Francisco bookshop and publisher founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953, has raised almost half a million dollars in four days after it launched an appeal to readers warning that its future was in danger because of the coronavirus pandemic.On Friday, chief executive Elaine Katzenberger warned that the City Lights, which was the first all-paperback bookstore in the US and famously released Allen Ginsberg´s Howl in 1955, was facing `formidable challenges`. Closed to the public since 16 March, with no immediate prospect of reopening, Katzenberger said the shop was not even processing online orders, because it wanted its staff to remain safely at home. Related: City Lights founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti: `The US isn`t ready for a revolution` Continue reading...