Victor Hernández Cruz (born February 6, 1949) is a Puerto Rican

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. In 1981, ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' magazine named him one of America's greatest poets.Nicolas Kanellos, "Hispanic Firsts", Visible Ink Press; ; p. 40.

Biography

Early years

Hernández Cruz was born in

Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico Aguas Buenas, (, ), popularly known as "''La Ciudad de las Aguas Claras''" or "''The City of Clear Waters''", is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range, north of Cidra, south of Bayamón, Guaynabo and San ...

. In 1954, his family moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and lived in

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

. There he received his primary and secondary education. He began to write poetry while attending Benjamin Franklin High School.

Poetry career

During his high school years he wrote various poems, including "Snaps". In 1969, Random House published his collection ''Snaps'' and the following year his poetry began to appear in various publications including '' Evergreen Review'' and the ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

''. In 1970, Hernández Cruz worked with New York's "Poetry-in-the-school" program. He moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in 1973 and served as a visiting poet in various colleges. From 1973 to 1975, he read and performed his works as a traveling troubadour, covering much of the United States. Hernández Cruz received fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 1981, the April issue of ''Life'' magazine proclaimed Hernández Cruz a National Treasure when they included his name among the greatest American poets. He is the first Hispanic in the US to have this honor bestowed on him.

Memberships

Hernández Cruz is a distinguished member of the famed

Nuyorican Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, or of their descendants (especially those raised or currently living in the N ...

school of poets (also referred to as the Nuyorican Movement). He tweaks syntactic conventions of English and Spanish to communicate his own voice. He was Chancellor of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

.Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More - Victor Hernández Cruz
/ref>Reuben, Paul P

''PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide.'' June 10, 2009. Accessed January 10, 2010.

Awards

* International Griffin Poetry Prize * Guggenheim Foundation *

fellowships

Works

* ''Papo Got His Gun'', 1966 (chapbook). * ''Snaps'', Random House, 1969. 135 pp. * * * * (shortlisted for the 2002 International

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

) * * *

Reviews

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

wrote about ''Snaps'':

Poesy news from space anxiety police age inner city, spontaneous urban American language as Williams wished, high school street consciousness transparent, original soul looking out intelligent Bronx windows.

Notes

References

External links

Griffin Poetry Prize biographyGriffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clipOnline interview with author
on Letras Latinas Oral History Project. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez Cruz, Victor 1949 births American male poets Living people People from Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican poets Puerto Rican male writers 20th-century Puerto Rican poets 21st-century Puerto Rican poets People from East Harlem