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“Blanco has a natural, unforced style that allows his characters’ vibrancy and humor to shine through.”

– Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“A warm, emotionally intimate memoir.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“In Richard Blanco’s Miami, memories linger outside coffee windows and in Cuban grocery store aisles… In a series of loosely intertwined stories, Blanco describes a childhood marked by loss, humor and hints of an exotic land called America.”

– Associated Press

The Prince of los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood

Written by Richard Blanco
Published by Ecco

A poignant, hilarious, and inspiring memoir from the first Latino and openly gay inaugural poet, which explores his coming-of-age as the child of Cuban immigrants and his attempts to understand his place in America while grappling with his burgeoning artistic and sexual identities.

Richard Blanco’s childhood and adolescence were experienced between two imaginary worlds: his parents’ nostalgic world of 1950s Cuba and his imagined America, the country he saw on reruns of The Brady Bunch and Leave it to Beaver—an “exotic” life he yearned for as much as he yearned to see “la patria.”

A prismatic and lyrical narrative rich with the colors, sounds, smells, and textures of Miami, Richard Blanco’s personal narrative is a resonant account of how he discovered his authentic self and ultimately, a deeper understanding of what it means to be American. His is a singular yet universal story that beautifully illuminates the experience of “becoming;” how we are shaped by experiences, memories, and our complex stories: the humor, love, yearning, and tenderness that define a life.

Primary ISBN: 9780062313768
Publication Date: September 2014
Available As: Paperback, Audiobook, eBook
Memoir, Age 18 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (Miami FL)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Immigrant

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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