Papoleto Speaks
My blogs
Blogs I follow
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Industry | Arts |
| Occupation | Poet, Playwright, Performance Artist |
| Location | El Barrio, New York, New York, Puerto Rico |
| Introduction | Public Speaker, Facilitator: Proud Puerto Rican, educator & activist. PAPOLETO’s family migrated to U.S. from Puerto Rico, settling in El Barrio, East Harlem in the 1950s. PAPOLETO, born and raised in New York City, became interested in the arts as a kid, & participated in his first poetry reading when he was 19 years old, during the heyday of the Civil Rights & Black Arts Movement. His poetry emerged at the inception of the "Nuyorican Poets' Movement,” making PAPOLETO one of the original founders, influencing the works of such contemporaries as Sandra María Esteves & Miguel Piñero, among many others. Volumes of Poetry: “Casting Long Shadows” (‘70), “Have You Seen Liberation” (‘71), “Street Poetry & Other Poems” (‘72), “Concertos on Market Street” (‘93). Plays: “The Junkies Stole The Clock;” the 1st production of the NY Shakespeare Festival’s Nuyorican Playwright’s Unit, April, 1974. Again produced in 1997, directed by Veronica Caicedo. Recipient of the 1st Annual “El Reverendo Pedro Pietri Hand Award” in Poetry (‘06); “The Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award” (‘04); a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship in Poetry (‘01). |
| Favorite movies | Farenheit 451, 1984 (Orwell), |
| Favorite music | Practically Everything, especially birds |
| Favorite books | Books by Jesus Papoleto Melendez, Puerto Rican Obituary by El Reverendo Pedro Pietri, the Dictionary |