As institutions mark the centenary of the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg's birth, this Guardian feature examines how his celebrated literary reputation sits alongside the most troubling part of his record: his association with the North American Man/Boy Love Association (Nambla). The piece matters because it asks how admirers and cultural bodies should reckon honestly with a revered figure whose provocative political stances complicate any straightforward celebration.

Much of the article draws on Peter Hale, keeper of Ginsberg's estate, who first met the poet as a teenager and speaks of him with reverence while conceding his Nambla ties are a "headache". Hale argues Ginsberg backed the group on free-speech grounds — opposing FBI "witch-hunts" rather than endorsing its cause — a defence Ginsberg made himself in his essay Thoughts on Nambla. The writer notes the truth is murkier, citing scholar David S Wills, who reads Ginsberg's references to "consensual intergenerational" relationships as verging on a defence of the relationships themselves. The centenary is being marked by a vinyl reissue of his 1959 spoken-word album and events at London's Southbank Centre, Stanford University and in New York featuring Laurie Anderson and Patti Smith.