The Yippie Celebrates Poet Ferlinghetti on Memorial Day in New York

May 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Gordon Gilbert hosts "Coney Island's on Our Mind," a celebration of the writings of the legendary Beat Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, this Memorial Day, Monday May 28th, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at Yippie Cafe & Museum, 9 Bleecker Street (just west of Bowery) in New York City.

Ferlinghetti, born March 24, 1919 in Yonkers, New York, is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco, California.  Author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, he is best known for "A Coney Island of the Mind' (New York: New Directions, 1958), a collection of poems that has been translated into nine languages, with sales of over one million copies.

Poets Wear Prada Production Editor Jack Cooper will be among the readers honoring Ferlinghetti with poems by the celebrated poet and some of their own. Other readers will include Bernard Block, Tom Oleszczuk, Kim Kalesti, Jessica Femiani, Barbara Ann Branca, Richard West,  Bob Quatrone, Patricia Brody,  Thad Rutkowski,  Dorothy Friedman August, Linda Lerner,  Evie Ivy,  Steve Bluestone, Robert Agnoli, David Elsasser, and Orion 0.62.

The event is open to the public.  Snacks and soft drinks are available. There is a $3 suggested donation.  For more information and directions call 212-677-5918.

By Subway: Take D, F  trains to Broadway/Lafayette, 6 to Bleecker Street, or  F to 2nd Avenue.  

Gordon Gilbert, a long-term resident of the West Village writes poetry and short stories. He is also a songwriter and a playwright.  He regularly hosts events celebrating the Beat Generation at the Yippie. His traveling show "Monologues from the Old Folks Home" is currently being performed at various venues in New York City.