His free, public reading from 鈥淔or All of Us, One Today鈥 and question-and-answer session will begin at 7 p.m. in the Swain Student Activities Center Multipurpose Room. Book sales and signing and a reception will follow.
聽The Hispanic/Latino Faculty and Staff Association and the LGBT Center are presenting Blanco during Hispanic Heritage Month and . 聽
His recent and first prose publication, 鈥淔or All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet鈥檚 Journey,鈥 reflects on the Jan. 21, 2013, reading of his original poem 鈥淥ne Today鈥 written for the second inauguration of Barack Obama. He was the youngest and the first Latino, immigrant and openly gay writer to be chosen for the honor.
He has performed other works since then, most notably his poem 鈥淏oston Strong鈥 written after the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombings and read at the Boston Garden Benefit Concert and a Boston Red Sox game.
The prize-winning author鈥檚 other books include another memoir, 鈥淭he Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood,鈥 due in September; and the poetry collections 鈥淟ooking for the Gulf Motel,鈥 鈥淒irections to the Beach of the Dead鈥 and 鈥淐ity of a Hundred Fires.鈥 Born in Spain to Cuban exiles, Blanco grew up in Miami and earned a civil engineering degree and a master鈥檚 degree in fine arts in creative writing, both from Florida International University.
Blanco is a professional civil engineer who also has taught writing at Central Connecticut State, Georgetown and American universities. Recently, the Maine-based writer has been a Woodrow Wilson visiting fellow for the Council of Independent Colleges. 聽
For more information, contact Brian Buford at 502-494-0620 or brian.buford@louisville.edu or Manuel Medina at 502-852-0501 or manuel.medina@louisville.edu or check