Juan Felipe Herrera named U.S. poet laureate, the first Latino in history to receive the honor
- Herrera’s family immigrated to California from Mexico in the early 20th century, becoming migrant farm laborers.
- He went on to study at UCLA and Stanford before taking up roles as a writer and educator in a variety of contexts throughout California, and he hopes to continue the work of broadening poetry’s audience as national poet laureate.
- His work includes poetry, novels in verse, and children’s books, and his success earned him the honor of being appointed California’s first Latino poet laureate prior to his national appointment.
“This is a mega-honor for me … for my family and my parents who came up north before and after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 — the honor is bigger than me.”
More on this story at NPR.
(Image Credit: Blue Flower Arts, via NPR)
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