I became familiar with Richard Blanco’s poetry published varies MiPoesias publications. I just learned this week that he is a recipient of the 2006 PEN American Award for his work Directions to the Beach of the Dead. PEN is the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatreds and to promote understanding among all countries. PEN American Center, founded a year later, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship.
Richard Blanco is a professional civil engineer and accomplished poet. His first book of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires, explores the yearnings and negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-American; and received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press (1998). His poems have appeared in The Nation, Ploughshares, Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, TriQuarterly Review, New England Review, and several anthologies including, The Best American Poetry 2000, Great American Prose Poems, Breadloaf Anthology of New American Poets, and American Poetry: The Next Generation. He has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and conferences and venues including The Southern Writers Conference and Bread Loaf Writers Conference.
To read more about Blanco’s PEN Award, visit here.
Congratulations, Richard.
Related Websites
Blanco's website
MiPoesias review by Jack Anders
Poetry you can find online:
Smith College
MiPoesias, Volume 20, Issue 1
Ploughshares, Vol 30/1
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