Celebrated poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti adorns the cover of the March/April 2007 issue of Poets & Writers magazine. Interviewed by Julia Older, he discusses the politics of Pound, the value of workshops, and who really makes up mainstream culture. An excerpt:

Ferlinghetti is the author of more than thirty books. One of his first, the international best-seller A Coney Island of the Mind, has been translated into nine languages. His other poetry collections include These Are My Rivers: New and Selected Poems, 1955–1993 (1993), A Far Rockaway of the Heart (1997), How to Paint Sunlight (2001), and the book-length poem Americus, Book I (2004), all released by New Directions. He has also published novels, experimental plays, collections of drawings, and translations.

Last year I went to hear Ferlinghetti read at an event sponsored by the New England Poetry Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The funky old Harvard auditorium was crammed with gray-haired flower children, Vietnam vets, and high school and college students. By the time club president Diana Der-Hovanessian introduced him, scores of people had been turned away at the door. When the tall, white-bearded poet, wearing a bright blue shirt, leaned over the podium, fans exploded into applause, shouted favorite poetry titles, and cheered as he began to read.

Mary Gannon’s editor’s note offers more insight. Ferlinghetti comes to the 92nd Street Y on April 16, probably making the same rock star entrance.