Victor Hernández Cruz



Victor Hernández Cruz (born: February 6, 1949) is a Puerto Rican poet who in 1969 became the first Hispanic to be published by a mainstream publishing house when Random House published his poem "Snaps". In 1981, Life Magazine named him one of America's greatest poets.

Early years
Hernández Cruz was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. In 1954, his family moved to New York City and lived in Spanish Harlem. There he received his primary and secondary education. He began to write poetry while he attended Benjamin Franklin High School.

Career
During his high school years he wrote various poems, including "Snaps". In 1969, Random House published "Snaps" and the following year his poetry began to appear in various magazines such as Evergreen Review and New York Review of Books.

In 1970, Hernández Cruz worked with New York's "Poetry-in-the-school" program. He moved to San Francisco in 1973 and served as a visiting poet in various colleges. From 1973 to 1975, he read and performed his works as a traveling troubadour covering much of the United States.

Hernández Cruz received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

In 1981, the April issue of Life Magazine proclaimed Hernández Cruz a National Treasure when they included his name amongst the greatest American poets. He is the first Hispanic in the US to have this honor bestowed on.

Memberships
Hernández Cruz is distinguished member of the famed Nuyorican school of poets (also referred to as the Nuyorican Movement). Hernández Cruz tweaks syntactic conventions of English and Spanish to communicate his own voice.

He was Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Writing
Allen Ginsberg: "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."

Recognition

 * International Griffin Poetry Prize
 * Guggenheim Foundation
 * National Endowment for the Arts fellowships

Publicationss

 * Papo Got His Gun. 1966 (chapbook).
 * Snaps, Random House. 1969.
 * (shortlisted for the 2002 International Griffin Poetry Prize)
 * (shortlisted for the 2002 International Griffin Poetry Prize)
 * (shortlisted for the 2002 International Griffin Poetry Prize)