Welcome to City Lights Publishers
In 1955, two years after opening his paperback bookshop, Lawrence Ferlinghetti launched City Lights Publishers with the Pocket Poets Series.
City Lights Publishers’ first volume was a collection of Ferlinghetti’s own poems, Pictures of the Gone World. Within a year City Lights had published its fourth and its most famous title, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, a book that revolutionized American poetry and American consciousness. City Lights has always been a champion of progressive thinking, fully committed to publishing works of both literary merit and social responsibility. With over 200 titles in print, we publish cutting-edge fiction, poetry, memoirs, literary translations and books on vital social and political issues.
All City Lights Publications are offered at a 30% discount here on our website.

Hot Off the Press
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Evan Kennedy $11.17 Add to cart
Metamorphoses: City Lights Spotlight No. 22
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Belén Gopegui $11.87 Add to cart
Stay This Day and Night with Me
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Will Alexander $11.87 Add to cart
Divine Blue Light (for John Coltrane): Pocket Poets Series No. 63
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Joyce Chopra $12.57 Add to cart
Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond
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Clarence Lusane $15.37 Add to cart
Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy
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Gabriela Alemán $11.17 Add to cart
Family Album: Stories
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Mosab Abu Toha $11.17 Add to cart
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza
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Daniel Levin Becker $16.07 Add to cart
What’s Good: Notes on Rap and Language
Featured Books Published by City Lights
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mimi tempestt $12.57 Pre-Order Now
The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals
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Evan Kennedy $11.17 Add to cart
Metamorphoses: City Lights Spotlight No. 22
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Rebecca Brown $12.57 Add to cart
The End of Youth
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Steven Reigns $11.87 Add to cart
A Quilt for David
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Pamela Sneed $11.87 Add to cart
Funeral Diva
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Sophia Dahlin $11.87 Add to cart
Natch: City Lights Spotlight No. 20
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Stephen Jonas $15.37 Add to cart
Arcana: A Stephen Jonas Reader
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Jacqueline Houtman $9.77 Add to cart
Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington
Forthcoming Titles
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Mumia Abu-Jamal $13.27 Pre-Order Now
Beneath the Mountain: An Anti-Prison Reader
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mimi tempestt $12.57 Pre-Order Now
The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals
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Clark Coolidge $13.27 Pre-Order Now
The Crystal Text
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Joyce Mansour $16.07 Pre-Order Now
Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems
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Ebru Ojen $11.17 Pre-Order Now
Lojman
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Lynn Lewis $12.57 Pre-Order Now
Women Who Change the World: Stories from the Fight for Social Justice
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Sonali Kolhatkar $11.87 Pre-Order Now
Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice
Our Authors
City Lights has published some of the world’s best known writers and thinkers, and we’ve also introduced an exciting range of new voices and viewpoints. Check out all the City Lights authors currently in print, and a list of their works available from our site.

City Lights Authors On the Road
Find out if our authors are going to be reading somewhere near you! This page is updated regularly with our roster of authors’ event schedules.
Publishing Information
Publicity & Media Requests
Media requests and inquiries can be sent to our Publicity Department.
Rights & Permissions
To inquire about the availability of foreign-language rights, English-language reprint rights, audio, film, or dramatic rights of works published by City Lights Books, please contact our Rights Associate.
To request permission to reprint materials from City Lights publications, please submit your request via email to The Permissions Company, Inc. Please include the following information: book title, author or editor, page number(s), title of poem or chapter. We will also need information on your planned publication: title, author or editor, publisher, proposed publication date, price, distribution, format, and the number of copies to be printed.
Desk & Exam Copies
Professors may request Desk and Exam copies of available City Lights titles through our distributor, Ingram Academic Services.
Sales & Distribution
City Lights publications are distributed to bookstores and libraries by Ingram Publisher Services. Bookstores can get more information here: https://www.ingramcontent.com/retailers/independent-bookstores while libraries can get more information here: https://www.ingramcontent.com/libraries
Any questions about purchasing City Lights titles directly can be asked here.
Manuscript Submissions
Regretfully, we are unable to accept manuscript submissions or book proposals.
Internship Opportunities
City Lights Publishers seeks interns on a regular basis to help support our publicity and marketing efforts.
Interns will work on a variety of publicity and marketing tasks. We do not offer editorial internships. Our internships require 4-6 hours/week, with a 3 month commitment, and are unpaid. (Summer internships are available, as well, so please inquire about the time commitment.)
The City Lights Publishing offices are located in the City Lights Bookstore at 261 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco.
Please send a cover letter and resume to Stacey Lewis. No phone calls, please.