Poet Richard Blanco Speaking At Northeast Library Today

Richard Blanco

 

Today from 1-2:30pm, poet Richard Blanco will be at the Northeast Library (6801 35th Avenue NE), as   part of Seattle Public Library's "Seattle Reads" program to get residents in the City reading and discussing the same book. 

The library's theme for its 16th year of the series is "For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey."

The information says: 

"For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey" is Blanco’s account of his life-changing experiences as the inaugural poet in 2013. He shares

life as a Latino immigrant discovering a new, emotional understanding of what it means to be an American. He reveals the inspiration and challenges behind the creation of the inaugural poem, “One Today,” as well as two other poems (“What We Know of Country” and “Mother Country”) commissioned for the occasion and included in the book, with translations of all three poems into his native Spanish.  

Finally, Blanco reflects on his spiritual embrace of Americans everywhere through the power of poetry and his vision for its new role in our nation’s consciousness. Like the inaugural poem itself, “For All of Us, One Today” speaks to what makes this country and its people great, marking a triumphant moment in American history and letters.

Richard Blanco was born in Madrid in 1969, immigrating as an infant with his Cuban-

exile family to the United States. He was raised and educated in Miami, earning a B.S. in civil engineering and an M.F.A. in creative writing. Blanco has been a practicing engineer, writer, poet and teacher. He currently resides in Bethel, Maine. He has published three previous collections of poetry. In 2013, Blanco was chosen to serve as the fifth inaugural poet of the United States, following in the footsteps of Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Miller Williams and Elizabeth Alexander. Blanco presented “One Today,” an original poem he wrote for the occasion, becoming the youngest, first Latino, first immigrant and first openly gay writer to hold the honor.

 

Books will be available for purchase and doors open 30 minutes before the event. For more information go here or call 206-386-4636.

 

(photo courtesy of SPL website)