As part of the programming of the month-long series Out in the Tropics 2018 (OITT) presented by FUNDarte and CCEMiami, the poet Richard Blanco hosts a free public of his inspiring and heartfelt poetry on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at 4:00 PM at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.

Richard Blanco is the fifth inaugural poet of the United States, as well as the first Latino, openly gay-identified and youngest person to hold the position to date. Blanco
earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing in 1997. His books have won such prestigious awards as the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize (1998); PEN American Center Beyond Margins Award (2005); Paterson Poetry Prize (2005); Maine Literary Award for Poetry (2012); Thom Gunn Award (2012); Maine Literary Award for Memoir (2015); and Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir (2015). Blanco was selected in 2012 to serve as the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, joining the ranks of such luminaries as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou as the youngest, first Latino, first immigrant, and first gay person to serve in such a role. He has been named a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and received honorary doctorates from Macalester College, Colby College, and the University of Rhode Island. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, including the Best American Poetry series, the Nation, the New Republic, the Huffington Post, and Condé Nast Traveler.

This event is part of Out in the Tropics 2018 (OITT), an exhilarating program of multi-disciplinary performance art; embracing story-rich poetry, a folklorist musician, a prolific lesbian Cuban painter, a Brazilian multi-disciplinary theater performance, and an exciting month-long season of seven new micro-theater plays. The event will run from Thursday, May 24th through to Sunday, June 24th, 2018 in venues across Miami-Dade County. For more information please visit www.fundarte.us