Founded in 1955, with nearly 200 books in print, City Lights publishes cutting-edge fiction, poetry, memoirs, literary translations and books on vital social and political issues.

2015 marked our 60th anniversary as a publisher!

Out now is the City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology, 60th Anniversary Edition, edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and a book of selected correspondence between Allen Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti, I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great Career. We also published our very first book for children in 2015, the New York Times Bestseller, Rad American Women A-Z.

2015 also saw the publication of a new hardcover edition of the first City Lights book, Pictures of the Gone World: Pocket Poets Number One and an expanded 25th anniversary edition of Karen Finley's Shock Treatment.

We are also proud to have released the new poetry collection of the 2015-2016 U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, Notes on the Assemblage.

In July 2015, Elaine Katzenberger, publisher and executive director of City Lights, spoke with Michael Krasny on KQED Forum about the 60-year history of City Lights Publishers, the legacy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the new books being published by City Lights in the anniversary year. City Lights authors Karen Finley and Thomas Page McBee called in as well to offer their take about being published under City Lights.

Featured Titles from City Lights Publishers

Breaking Through Power
It's Easier Than We Think

Ralph Nader

Now Available! A Thomas Paine-style indictment of how wealthy corporations control politics and how average Americans, through democracy, can fight back and win. October tour stops in D.C., Santa Cruz, the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle!

Dated Emcees

Chinaka Hodge

"These are poems to read every day. To make mantras from. They are the best poems you've ever read."––Daveed Diggs, star of Hamilton

Save Twilight: Selected Poems
Pocket Poets Number 53

Julio Cortázar

Newly expanded edition of a classic: the first and only collection of Cortázar's poetry to appear in English.

Rad American Women A-Z
Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!

Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl

New York Times Bestseller! A book for children—and their parents, teachers, and cool grown-up friends—documenting America's famous and unsung heroines.

Notes on the Assemblage

Juan Felipe Herrera

Newest collection from the U.S. Poet Laureate: Exuberant and socially engaged, reflective and healing, a multi-genre collection of new work from the nation's first Latino Poet Laureate!

The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir

Susan Daitch

Indiana Jones meets Italo Calvino in a masterful, absurdist blend of biting social satire, rollicking adventure, invented history and mythology.

Old Angel Midnight

Jack Kerouac

"The only book I've ever written in which I've allowed myself to say absolutely anything I want."—Jack Kerouac

America at War with Itself

Henry A. Giroux

An eye-opening critique of how America's drift toward authoritarian intolerance is dividing the nation and intensifying social and political conflicts.

The Gilda Stories
Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition

Jewelle Gomez

Before Buffy, before Twilight, before Octavia Butler's Fledgling, there was The Gilda Stories, Jewelle Gomez's lush vampire novel.

The Earth Wants YOU

Reverend Billy Talen

A motivational handbook for earth activists, filled with inspired visions of a wild, creative, Earth-led cultural revolution. Stop shopping and sign up now for the struggle of our lives! Earthalujah!

Pictures of the Gone World
60th Anniversary Edition

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The volume that launched City Lights' iconic Pocket Poets Series, Lawrence Ferlinghetti's first collection of poems, in an anniversary edition.

Incidents of Travel in Poetry
New and Selected Poems

Frank Lima, Garrett Caples, Julien Poirier

New and selected work by a major Latino poet, the best kept secret of the New York School.

The Beats Abroad
A Global Guide to the Beat Generation

Bill Morgan

The international phase of the Beat Generation's story, documenting their travels and the tremendous influence it had on their writing.

Shock Treatment
Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition

Karen Finley

Expanded anniversary edition of this 1990 classic by America's most provocative performance artist, as outrageous, insightful and relevant as ever.

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene
Reflections on the End of a Civilization

Roy Scranton

An Iraq War vet's bracing, visionary response to the challenge posed by global warming and his hope in the humanities.

Under the Affluence
Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America

Tim Wise

A scalding indictment of how the wealthy influence the national economy, politics, and media to disadvantage those already less fortunate.