Martín Espada, poet and writer
Every year, the Folger Poetry Board selects a distinguished poet to read from original work as well as the work of those the poet cites as an influence.
Martín Espada has written more than a dozen collections of poetry and several books of essays. He is the official translator of the Puerto Rican poet Clement Soto Vélez and has edited important anthologies such as El Coro (1997) and Poetry Like Bread (1994). Espada’s publication Alabanza (2003) won the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement his The Republic of Poetry (2006) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2021, Espada was awarded the National Book Prize for his collection Floaters and received the Inaugural Letras Buricuas Fellowship.
This reading will be followed by a moderated conversation where audience members may also ask their own questions.
This reading is cosponsored with the Folger Shakespeare Library.