Richard Blanco Books In Order

Publication Order of Memoirs

Publication Order of Poetry Collections

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Pitt Poetry Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Richard Blanco is a published author of fiction.

Richard was born in 1968 in Madrid. His family was in Exile from Cuba. When he was a baby, they immigrated to the United States. Richard spent the majority of his childhood living in Miami. He received his education there and then went to college there. He studied civil engineering and got his Bachelor’s degree in that, and then attended Florida International University, where he received his Masters’ degree in the field of creative writing.

Blanco was chosen in 2013 to become the United State’s fifth inaugural poet. It is a great honor for the artist that means that Richard will be following in such footsteps of writers like Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. He wrote One Today, a poem that he composed specially for this occasion. He has become the youngest immigrant Latino and openly gay artist to have this honor.

After the inauguration, Richard continued his work of promoting community connection through poetry. He has composed poems and performed them on occasion for organizations and events, such as the Tech Awards, Freedom to Marry, and Fragrance Awards. He composed a poem called “Boston Strong” in May 2013. He performed it at a benefit concert as well as at Fenway for a Sox baseball game.

After performing for some time, he also released a limited edition chapbook titled Boston Strong. The book was an effort for charity and the proceeds of the chapbooks that were sold went to those affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon in the most significant ways.

His first book to make him a published author in print was released in 1998 and is titled City of a Hundred Fires. He had another come out after that and kept going with a variety of poetry collections. He has received many different honors for his performances and written work. One of them includes Macalester College presenting him with an honorary doctorate.

Richard Blanco has been named a visiting fellow and his first book was the recipient of the Agnes Starrett Prize. The second book that he came out won him an award from PEN/American Beyond Margins. His third book came out to high praise and it won him such recognition as the Paterson Prize, Maine Literary Award, and Tom Gunn Award.

You may have seen his poems as well, since his poetry has made its debut in various literary journals as well as anthologies such as Ploughshares and Best American Prose Poems. He has been a poet, writer, and engineer in practice all since 1991 and has kept it going since then.

Richard has also traveled quite a bit as an adult. He has had the opportunity to not only live but work throughout much of South America and Europe. Blanco has taught at a variety of colleges and places, including American University, Georgetown University, Central Connecticut State University, and the Writer’s Center.

Richard resides and works in Bethel, Maine, where he enjoys the peace and beauty of the mountains and his surroundings. He still likes to write as much as possible.

City of a Hundred Fires is one of this author’s early books from 1998. It is a good example of what you are to expect when you pick up a collection written by Richard Blanco. It was named one of the top twenty poetry books in 1998 by Library Journal. If you are looking for a unique lyrical book to read, be sure to check this one out.

Be prepared to go on a journey through an entire culture as seen through various experiences involved in growing up while being Cuban-American. The distinct group is made up of these children that speak two languages, that are born of parents that are themselves Cuban exiles.

In this book is the story of these children that find that there are two different cultural currents that run through their lives. The traditions that exist in a fragmented way as part of their new lives as well as the nostalgia that their parents have transferred over to them for their homeland in the Caribbean is felt very deeply in this unique book from a poet that more need to get to know!

They bring the traditions of the Caribbean over with them, but is it all going to survive the transplant into the very real present-day America in which they live? Read this book to experience all of the magical words and storytelling of Richard Blanco to find out.

The second book of lyrical, narrative poetry from Richard Blanco is called Directions to the Beach of the Dead. It was released for readers to check out in 2005. This is an exploration of the familiar and the quest to find connections and a sense of home.

It is also a book about the potential of where we can go, whether we should live one place or another, and what our lives would be like if we did move. From the exotic to the unusual, Blanco crafts a variety of topics that he examines that mostly have sprung out of himself.

From the restlessness that comes from staying in one place to being afraid of having too many locations to go to but not enough time to do it, the words flow just as easily on the page as Blanco’s thoughts do to the reader.

Full of the vivid colors of Cuban heritage and memories that seem to leap off of the page, this is a collection of the author, essentially. It is a love letter to home and to sanctuary, about attempting to move towards places that are largely unknown while spent suspended in life and returning to places he knows, embracing juxtaposition in the process.

Full of the Cuban and the American side of him, the side that is the poet and the day engineer, this is as much a portrait as a man as anything else. Explore identity such as being gay in a straight world, or of Cuban descent in a country that is full of people with different heritages. Pick up a copy of ‘Directions’ to get the full experience!