Richard Blanco stands as the youngest, first Latino, and first openly gay person to serve as the Presidential inaugural poet. His acclaimed first book, City of a Hundred Fires, explores the yearnings and negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-American and received the prestigious Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize. His second book, Directions to The Beach of the Dead won the PEN American Beyond Margins Award for its continued exploration of the universal themes of place and homecoming. His third collection, Looking for The Gulf Motel, won the Patterson Poetry Prize and Thom Gunn Award from the Publishing Triangle. He recently published commemorative chapbooks of One Today and Boston Strong with University of Pittsburg Press. Blanco is a Fellow of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, recipient of two Florida Artist Fellowships, and is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. A builder of cities and poems, Blanco is also a professional civil engineer currently living in Bethel, Maine.
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