Professor Blanco was selected by President Obama to serve as the fifth Inaugural Poet in U.S. history. He earned his MFA from Florida International University and regularly teaches Poetic Techniques, Advanced Poetry Workshop, and special topic literature courses on the poetry of immigrant and brown voices.
Professor Blanco is currently the Creative Writing Liaison at the MMC campus, serves on the Creative Writing Program Committee, and is the Education Ambassador for The Academy of American Poets. In addition, he is an active member of The Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. His collections of poetry include: City of a Hundred Fires; Directions to The Beach of the Dead; Boundaries; Looking for The Gulf Motel; and How to Love a Country. He has also authored the memoirs For All of Us, One Today and The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood.
research interests
Richard Blanco’s collections of poetry and memoirs explore the yearnings and negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-American and gay man, as well as the universal themes of place and homecoming, in the context of American sociopolitical matters of immigration, race, sexuality, and more. Creative Writing
