Live Poets of Boca Grande present Poetry in the Garden featuring Richard Blanco

On April 1, 2021, the Live Poets of Boca Grande will present “Poetry in the Garden,” an online poetry reading. 

This year “Poetry in the Garden” is dedicated to the memory of Julian Keevil and the memory of Les Nash. Boca Grande poets reading are Simonetta Balzar, Alice Gorman, Candy Hooper, Lindsay Major, Deb Nash, John Thomas, and Nancy White

The Live Poets are honored to present internationally celebrated poet Richard Blanco.  

Blanco read his poem, One Today, at Barack Obama’s second Presidential Inauguration. The poem is a celebration of the diverse and shared American experience. He was the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history—the youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity and place characterize his body of work. 

He is the author of several poetry collections, including his most recent How to Love a Country.  He won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press for his debut collection, City of a Hundred Fires. He is the recipient of a long list of other honors and awards, including the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and two Maine Literary Awards. He also has been a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and received honorary doctorates from Macalester College, Colby College, and the University of Rhode Island. 

Poetry in the Garden is open to the public at no charge. Register below to for your link to this online event. There are some copies of Richard Blanco’s book, How to Love a Country, is available for sale at the library foundation office.