Victor Hernández Cruz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Victor Hernández Cruz
|
|
|---|---|
| Born | February 6, 1949 Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | Puerto Rican |
| Period | 1960s – present |
| Literary movement | Nuyorican |
| Notable awards | International Griffin Poetry Prize; Guggenheim Foundation and NEA fellowships |
Victor Hernández Cruz, born on February 6, 1949, is a famous poet from Puerto Rico. A poet is someone who writes poems. In 1981, a well-known magazine called Life said he was one of America's greatest poets. This was a huge honor!
Contents
About Victor Hernández Cruz
His Early Life
Victor Hernández Cruz was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. When he was five years old, in 1954, his family moved to New York City. They lived in a neighborhood called Spanish Harlem. Victor went to school there, from elementary to high school. He started writing poetry while he was a student at Benjamin Franklin High School.
His Poetry Journey
While still in high school, Victor wrote many poems. One of his famous early poems was "Snaps." In 1969, a big publishing company called Random House published a collection of his poems, also titled Snaps. The next year, his poems started appearing in popular magazines like Evergreen Review and The New York Review of Books.
In 1970, Victor worked with a special program in New York called "Poetry-in-the-school." This program helped bring poetry to students. In 1973, he moved to San Francisco. There, he visited many colleges as a guest poet. From 1973 to 1975, he traveled all over the United States. He read his poems and performed them like a traveling musician or storyteller.
Victor Hernández Cruz received special awards called fellowships. These came from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Fellowships are like grants that help artists and writers focus on their creative work.
In April 1981, Life magazine called Victor Hernández Cruz a "National Treasure." They said he was one of the greatest American poets. He was the first Hispanic person in the U.S. to receive such a high honor.
Poetry Groups and Roles
Victor Hernández Cruz is an important member of the famous Nuyorican school of poets. This group is also known as the Nuyorican Movement. Nuyorican poets are writers of Puerto Rican heritage who grew up in New York. Victor is known for playing with the usual rules of English and Spanish grammar in his poems. This helps him create his own unique voice.
He also served as a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets. This is a very important leadership role in a major organization that supports poets in America.
Awards and Honors
Victor Hernández Cruz has received several important awards for his poetry:
- Griffin Poetry Prize
- Guggenheim Foundation fellowship
- National Endowment for the Arts fellowship
His Books
Here are some of the books Victor Hernández Cruz has published:
- Papo Got His Gun, 1966 (a small book called a chapbook).
- Snaps, Random House, 1969.
What Others Say
The famous poet Allen Ginsberg wrote about Victor's book Snaps:
Poesy news from space anxiety police age inner city, spontaneous urban American language as Williams wished, high school street consciousness transparent, original soul looking out intelligent Bronx windows.
This means Ginsberg thought Victor's poems were fresh and real. He felt they captured the feeling of city life and sounded like how people really talk. He also thought Victor's poems showed a smart and honest view of the world from a young person's perspective.
See also
In Spanish: Víctor Hernández Cruz para niños
- Before Columbus Foundation
- List of Puerto Ricans
- List of Puerto Rican writers
- Puerto Rican literature
- Latino literature
