Community Corner
Sunken Garden Poetry Presents Richard Blanco
Richard
Blanco/ music by Martin Hayes
Prelude
on Richard Blanco (5pm-6pm) led by Bessy Reyna
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President
Obama’s inaugural poet 2013
Richard
Blanco was made in Cuba, assembled in Spain, and imported to the United
States”—meaning his mother, seven months pregnant, and the rest of the family
arrived as exiles from Cuba in Madrid where he was born. Only forty-five
days later, the family emigrated once more and settled in New York City, then
eventually in Miami where he was raised and educated.
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His acclaimed 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. His second
book, Directions to The Beach of the Dead, won the Beyond
Margins Award from the PEN American Center for its continued exploration of the
universal themes of cultural identity and homecoming. A third collection, Looking for The Gulf Motel, was published by the
University of Pittsburgh Press in 2012.
A
builder of cities as well as poems, he holds a bachelors of science degree in
Civil Engineering and a Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
In
January of this year, Blanco read his work at the second inauguration of
President Obama.
**Please feel free to bring blankets, lawn chairs, and a picnic
dinner as you make yourself at home in the beautiful gardens of the Hill-Stead
museum. Admission is $10 per person, 18
and under free.**