Ferlinghetti Day 2021
Little Boy Relay | Marathon Reading
March 24, 2021 | 6am – 12:55pm PST
Please join the Little Boy Relay, a marathon reading of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's last novel Little Boy, to honor the first Ferlinghetti Day since Lawrence left this land. He would have been 102 on March 24, 2021.
Sign-up for a 5-minute slot and read whatever page we're on from wherever you may be. Come one, come all. It will be an international performance piece, a covid-safe vigil zoomed across the internets, made perfect with all its perfect imperfections.
Want to sign-up to read a few pages? Go to this Google Sheet, find the row with the 5-minute time slot that suits your fancy, enter your name and location.
Having trouble signing-up? E-mail ferlinghettiday@gmail.com with your name, location, and the 5-minute time slot you'd like.
Wondering why it's at this slightly odd time of day? Trying to make it work
for multiple international timezones and be done by 1pm PST, when another Ferlinghetti Day event starts—a Poetry Brigade with Jack Hirschman, former
San Francisco poet laureate.
Signed-up to read?
- Here is the Zoom link for the marathon reading.
- Please Zoom in 5 minutes BEFORE the 5-minute time slot that you selected.
- Upon arriving check the chat to see what page we're on.
- When there are about 30 seconds left in the 5-minute slot of the person before you you'll hear a gentle chime. That chime tells the current reader to finish the page they're on.
- After the chime we'll post in the chat the page number that you'll start with.
- When the previous reader finishes start on the page indicated in the chat. The baton is passed.
- As above, when there are about 30 seconds left in your 5-minute slot you'll hear a gentle chime. That chime tells you to finish the page you're on.
- The next person starts when you finish that page. The baton is passed again.
- Zoom out whenever you care to.
Just want to listen?
Here is the Zoom link for the marathon reading. Zoom on whenever you'd like and stay as long as you care to. Even Zoom out and Zoom back in; it's a marathon after all.
Here's how it's going to work:
5:50am PST : We'll open the Zoom meeting and get situated.
6:00am PST : Welcome remarks by Chris Buck (San Francisco, CA), founder
of Ferlinghetti Day.
6:10am PST : Per Ferlinghetti Day tradition, kick-off with Chip Lyons (Salt Lake City, UT) reading Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem The Changing Light.
6:15am PST : The Little Boy Relay officially begins on page 1. First to take the baton is Timothy Hayes (Brattleboro, VT), Chris' uncle who, in a postcard sent to Iowa City, IA in 1991, suggested Chris look into Ferlinghetti and his writing.
6:20am PST : The baton is passed to our first international reader, Paola Cerata, Zooming in from Pisa, Italy.
6:25am PST - 12:40pm PST : The marathon reading will Zoom around the globe. As of today we have relay readers signed-up to Zoom in from:
- Civate, Italy
- Daegu, South Korea
- Lyme, NH
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- Brooklyn, NY
- Beijing, China
- Jyvaskyla, Finland
- Boise, ID
- Silver Springs, MD
- Portland, OR
- Oakland, CA
- Doha, Qatar
- Salt Lake City, UT
- And of course, San Francisco, CA, the city that birthed City Lights and that Ferlinghetti called home for many, many decades
12:40pm PST : The final lap will be taken by Mauro Aprile Zanetti (San Francisco, CA) who for the last 6-ish years has been a personal friend and assistant to Lawrence. Mauro was instrumental in getting Little Boy published.
12:50pm PST : And then the baton goes back to Chris Buck for a final victory lap in a shiny silver blanket. Short closing remarks, with special thank yous and acknowledgements.
1pm PST : Zoom out, far and wide. Knowing that Ferlinghetti's words will remain in our hearts and minds. And Ferlinghetti Day is here forever.
Ferlinghetti Day 2021
Little Boy Relay is in the books!
7-hour marathon reading of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's last book Little Boy, to honor the first Ferlinghetti Day since Lawrence left this land. He would have been 102 on March 24, 2021.
Thank you to everyone, near and far, who Zoomed in, Zoomed on, and Zoomed off to be a part of the festivities—
50 readers
From 34 cities
From 13 states
From 12 countries
And 211 people Zoomed in over the course of the 7 hours
So, there it is. It was officially an international literary read-aloud. In honor of a local San Francisco literary icon. Made possible in equal part by the support of friends and family, the common interest and enthusiasm of strangers, and one of the few positive upsides of a global pandemic.
