Acclaimed author and poet Irene O'Garden is IN CONVERSATION with poet laurate Richard Blanco as part of the Authors on the Air continuing support of the Miami Book Fair. ABOUT RICHARD BLANCO: President Barack Obama selected Blanco in 2012 to serve as the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history, following in the footsteps of such luminary poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. The youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role, Blanco read “One Today,” an original poem he wrote for the occasion, at Obama’s inauguration ceremony on January 21, 2013. A children’s book of his presidential inaugural poem, One Today, in collaboration with renowned illustrator Dav Pilkey, was released in 2015. In his first prose publication, For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey (2013), Blanco shared the emotional details of his experiences as presidential inaugural poet and reflected on his understanding of what it means to be an American. ABOUT IRENE: IRENE O’GARDEN has won or been nominated for prizes in nearly every writing category from stage to e-screen, hardcovers, children’s books as well as literary magazines and anthologies.

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