7/30/2019 Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Inaugural
Poet
1/2
Wednesday,January9,20139:19:16AMET
Page1o
Subject:
NEWS:PresidentialInauguralCommitteeAnnouncesInauguralPoet
Date: Wednesday,January9,20138:05:49AMET
From:
PresidentialInauguralCommitteePressOffice(sentbyPresidentialInauguralCommitteePress
Office)
To: Carbone,NickTimeU.S.
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, January 9, 2013Contact:
[email protected], (202) 350-4260
NEWS: Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Inaugural
PoetRichard Blanco is the Youngest and First Latino or LGBT Person
Selected as the Inaugural Poet
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Presidential Inauguration Committee
(PIC) announced thatRichard Blanco will serve as the Inaugural poet
at the swearing-in ceremony on Monday, January21. Blanco will be
the youngest-ever Inaugural poet and the first Hispanic or LGBT
person torecite a poem at the swearing-in ceremony.
Im honored that Richard Blanco will join me and Vice President
Biden at our second Inaugural,President Obama said today. His
contributions to the fields of poetry and the arts have
alreadypaved a path forward for future generations of writers.
Richards writing will be wonderfully fittingfor an Inaugural that
will celebrate the strength of the American people and our nations
greatdiversity.Born in Spain to Cuban exiles, Blancos parents
emigrated to New York City days after his birthand eventually
settled in Miami. Blanco began his career as a consultant engineer.
Writing aboutabstract concepts and preparing arguments on behalf of
his clients helped Blanco think about theengineering of language,
and he left his job in 1999 for the creative writing faculty at
CentralConnecticut State University until 2001. Thereafter he
served as instructor at various universitiesthroughout the country,
including American and Georgetown universities, all the while
maintaininghis career in consulting engineer.
Blanco's career as an English-language Latino poet gained
momentum when his first collection,
City of a Hundred Fires, won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry
Prize from the University ofPittsburgh. Blanco's second book of
poetry,Directions to The Beach of the Dead, won the PENAmerican
Center Beyond Margins Award. His third collection,Looking for The
Gulf Motel, waspublished in 2012.As a writer, Blanco explores the
collective American experience of cultural negotiation through
thelens of family and love, particularly his mothers life shaped by
exile, his relationship with hisfather, and the passing of a
generation of relatives. His work also explores the intersection of
hiscultural identities as a Cuban-American gay man.
"Im beside myself, bestowed with this great honor, brimming over
with excitement, awe, andgratitude, Blanco said today. In many
ways, this is the very stuff of the American Dream, which
7/30/2019 Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Inaugural
Poet
2/2
Page2o
underlies so much of my work and my lifes storyAmericas story,
really. I am thrilled by thethought of coming together during this
great occasion to celebrate our country and its peoplethrough the
power of poetry.In addition to writing poetry, Blanco has worked to
strengthen communities and support neighbors,from working with
students on writing and interpreting poems throughout the country
to serving asa member of his towns Planning Board in Bethel, Maine
where he currently lives. His commitmentreflects the ideals of the
National Day of Service, and demonstrates that, as President Obama
hassaid, we can all give back to our communities.
The first inaugural poet was Robert Frost at President Kennedys
1961 inauguration. In 1993, at theinauguration of President
Clinton, Maya Angelou became the second inaugural poet and the
first toread an original poem at an inauguration. She was followed
by Miller Williams in 1997 andElizabeth Alexander in 2009.President
Obama was involved in the selection of participants in the
Inaugural program, includingRichard Blanco.
###
unsubscribe from this list
