Miguel Algarín

Miguel Algarín Jr. (11 September 1941 – 30 November 2020)^[1] was a Puerto Rican poet, writer, co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café, and a Rutgers University professor of English.^[2]

Early years

Algarín was born in

In 1973, Algarín was using the living room of his apartment in Manhattan as a gathering place for poets and artists. By 1975, there were so many poets and artists gathering and reciting their works in the apartment, that Algarín decided to look for a more comfortable location.[6]

Nuyorican Poets Café

After some time of hosting poets in his apartment, Algarín,

The theater has won over 30 "AUDELCO Awards" and was honored with an Obie grant for excellence in theater. Of the screenplays read in the theater, 40 have been turned into films. The Latin jam session which is celebrated at the Café has been a weekly "Critics Choice" at the New York Press for six consecutive years. The Café also has a radio broadcast on WBAI, where Algarín started the broadcast with his signature "We're live from the Nuyorican Poets Café".^[6][7][8]

Algarín played an important role in the spread of Nuyorican literature by compiling, with Miguel Piñero, its first anthology Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings. He also founded a publishing house called the Nuyorican Press, which only published one book, his own Mongo Affair.^[3] He also helped launch Arte Public Press, which became a leading publishing house for Nuyorican works.^{[citation needed]}

Principally known as a poet, Algarín's books include Mongo Affair, On Call (1980), Body Bee Calling from the 21st Century (1982), Time's Now/Ya es tiempo (1985), and Love Is Hard Work: Memorias de Loisaida/Poems (1997, Lower East Side Memories/Poems). He also published anthologies of works that were performed at the Nuyorican Poets Café, including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café (1994) which he co-edited with Bob Holman.^[3] He was the editor of Action: The Nuyorican Café Theatre Festival and co-editor of Aloud. Among his award-winning poetry books are Time's Now/Ya Es Tiempo and Love is Hard Work.^[8][9][10]

Honors

Algarín held the status of

Algarín retired as professor from Rutgers University,[15] but continued as the executive producer of the Nuyorican Poets Café's theater and was working on a piece of literature titled "Dirty Beauty".^{[6][7][8][9][10]} In 2001, he was portrayed by actor Giancarlo Esposito in the Miguel Piñero biopic Piñero.^{[citation needed]}

Death

Algarín died from sepsis at a hospital in Manhattan on 30 November 2020, at age 79.^[16][17]

Works

• Mongo affair: poems. Nuyorican Poet's Café. 1978.
  ISBN 978-0-934770-04-0
• On call. Arte Público Press, Revista chicano-riqueña, University of Houston. 1980.
  ISBN 978-0-934770-03-3
  .
• Body bee calling from the 21st century. Arte Publico Press. 1982.
  ISBN 978-0-934770-17-0
  .
• Time's Now/Ya Es Tiempo. Arte Publico Press. 1985.
  ISBN 978-0-934770-33-0
  .
• Love is hard work: memorias de Loisaida. Scribner. 1997.
  ISBN 978-0-684-82517-5
  .
• Action. Touchstone. 1997.
  ISBN 978-0-684-82611-0
• Survival Supervivencia. Arte Publico Press. 2009.
  ISBN 978-1-611-92299-8

• Miguel Algarín; Miguel Piñero, eds. (1975). Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings. Morrow.
  ISBN 978-0-688-02967-8
  .
• Miguel Algarín; Bob Holman, eds. (1994). Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café. Macmillan.
  ISBN 978-0-8050-3257-4
  .
• Miguel Algarín; Lois Griffith, eds. (1997). Action: The Nuyorican Poets Café Theater Festival. Simon and Schuster.
  ISBN 978-0-684-82611-0
  . Miguel Algarín.

• List of Latin American writers
• List of Puerto Rican writers
• List of Puerto Ricans
• Puerto Rican literature
• Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
• Before Columbus Foundation
• Miguel Piñero, co-founder of Nuyorican Poetry movement
• Giannina Braschi, author of Spanglish novel, Yo-Yo Boing!
• Pedro Pietri, co-founder of Nuyorican Poets Café

References