Pedro Pietri

Poet and playwright Pedro Pietri was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on March 21, 1944. Three years later, his family moved to Harlem. He attended public schools in New York City and was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1968.

Pietri’s publications include Illusions of a Revolving Door: Plays (Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1992); The Masses are Asses (Waterfront Press, 1984); Traffic Violations (Waterfront Press, 1983); Lost in the Museum of Natural History (Ediciones Huracán, 1980); and Puerto Rican Obituary (Monthly Review Press, 1973). His work has also been featured in several anthologies, including The Prentice Hall Anthology of Latino Literature (Pearson, 2001) and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1999).

Pietri’s honors include several New York State Creative Arts in Public Service grants and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts. A resident of New York City and a prominent Nuyorican poet, Pedro Pietri died on March 3, 2004.