Coming of Age: An Evening with Richard Blanco

The Nova Southeastern University Center for the Humanities presents Presidential inaugural poet and memoirist, Richard Blanco, who will speak about the journey to adulthood and read from his works. This event is part of the center’s 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month series of programming: “Generaciones: Cycles of Life.” The series celebrates the importance of family and the way that the joys and sorrows of life’s transitions generate new growth.

Richard Blanco is the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history—the youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity and place characterize his body of work. He is the author of the poetry collections Looking for the Gulf Motel, Directions to the Beach of the Dead, and City of a Hundred Fires; the poetry chapbooks Matters of the Sea, One Today, and Boston Strong; a children’s book of his inaugural poem, One Today, illustrated by Dav Pilkey; and Boundaries, a collaboration with photographer Jacob Hessler. His latest book of poems, How to Love a Country (Beacon Press, 2019), both interrogates the American narrative, past and present, and celebrates the still unkept promise of its ideals.

The event will be held in the Knight Auditorium, on the first floor of the Carl DeSantis building, which located next to the Alvin Sherman Library. This free program is funded in part through a Florida Humanities Greater Good: Humanities in Academia in partnership with Nova Southeastern University.