Remembering Miguel Algarín, Co-Founder of Nuyorican Poets Café (1941-2020)

At Remezcla, Marcos Hassan shares news that Puerto Rican poet and professor Miguel Algarín, who co-founded Nuyorican Poets Café, has died at the age of 79. Algarín, whose family arrived in New York from Puerto Rico in 1950, was professor emeritus at Rutgers University. "By 1975," writes Hassan, "his home had become a meeting ground for writers to share their works and thoughts." More:

Expanding to a formal space, Algarín-along with Miguel Piñero, Pedro Pietri, and others-founded the Nuyorican Poets Café, becoming ground zero for a literary movement. During its history, the Nuyorican Poets Café has been a haven for poetry, prose, theater, visual arts, and music, as their weekly jam sessions attest. Algarín broadcasted a radio program from the Café and compiled various anthologies of Puerto Rican literature, founding the publishing house Nuyorican Press as well as Arte Public Press. Some of his most famous works include On Call, Time’s Now/Ya Es Tiempo, and Love Is Hard Work.

Learn more at Remezcla.