Miguel Algarín Papers

Miguel Algarín was born September 11, 1941, in Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 1951, his family moved to New York City’s Lower East Side (also known as Loisaida), settling amidst a growing Puerto Rican community. His mother, María Socorro Algarín, was a poet, composer and visual artist, who published a book of poetry (Lluvias del otoño) and had her music recorded by Puerto Rican singer Gloria Mirabal. His father, who worked as a mechanic, was a lover of classical music and opera, who gave Miguel violin lessons and took him to recitals. Algarín participated in school plays and traveled the world with his high school choir. His aunt, Carmen Ana Figueras, lived with them and helped care for Algarín and his two siblings.

Attracted since childhood to literature, Algarín obtained a BA in Romance Languages from the University of Wisconsin and an MA in English Literature from Penn State University. He also undertook doctoral studies in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, where in 1965 he began a long career as a professor in their English Department, teaching Shakespeare, creative writing and ethnic literature in the United States. This also included teaching in the Spanish Department at University College (1964-1968) and serving as the Acting Chair of the Department of Puerto Rican Studies at Livingston College (1984-1988). In addition to teaching at Rutgers, Algarín was a lecturer at Brooklyn College (1965-1967) and in 1976 he taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. According to Algarín, his life became a mission to connect “the artist and academia” in a natural way.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Algarín immersed himself in politics, becoming involved with issues of civil and political rights. Together with other Puerto Rican poets and playwrights, like Miguel Piñero and “Lucky” Cienfuegos, Algarín also became active in a poetic movement flourishing on the Lower East Side. They became “students” of Jorge Brandon, known as “the father of Nuyorican poetry.” Through poetry recited and performed, often on the streets, the young poets sought to reach and reflect the lives of common people, particularly immigrant Puerto Ricans. They wrote in a language that often combined English and Spanish (which they called Spanglish) with themes centered on their daily lives.

Performance poetry emerged as a dynamic and vital element of urban Latino and African-American culture, and Algarín was at the forefront of the movement as a writer and promoter. In 1972, theatre impresario Joseph Papp became interested in the young writers and their development as playwrights. He helped them find space and gain entry into theaters for poetry recitals when there were no shows, such as the Delacorte Theater on Monday nights. In 1973, Algarín began using the living room of his East Village apartment as a gathering place for poets and artists. By 1974 the regular artistic gatherings outgrew Algarín’s home. Along with Piñero and other poets, including Bimbo Rivas and Pedro Pietri, they rented an Irish bar on East 6th Street and christened it the Nuyorican Poets Café. According to Algarín, while on a trip to Puerto Rico with Piñero, they overheard islanders disparagingly calling them newyoricans. They claimed an altered form of the term (nuyorican) for themselves, turning an insult into self-affirmation. They also used it to title their 1975 anthology. In 1980, due to further overflow of artists and audience, Algarín purchased a former tenement building at 236 East 3rd Street, where the Café currently resides.

From its inception, the Café championed the use of poetry, jazz, theater, hip-hop and spoken word as a means of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artists, giving voice to those traditionally under-represented in mainstream media and culture. It became a nationally acclaimed stage for groundbreaking works of poetry, music, theater, comedy and visual arts. Allen Ginsberg called the Café “the most integrated place on the planet.” It is now a non-profit organization offering poetry slams and open mics, Latin Jazz and Hip-Hop concerts, poetry and prose readings, theatrical performances, educational programs and visual art exhibits. The theater has been awarded over 30 AUDELCO Awards and was honored with an Obie Grant for Excellence in Theater. Of the screenplays read in the theater, 40 have been turned into films.

Algarín held the status of Professor Emeritus for his more than 30 years of service to Rutgers University. He received 3 American Book Awards and the Larry Leon Hamlin Producer’s Award at the 2001 National Black Festival. Algarín retired as professor from Rutgers but continueds as the executive producer of the Nuyorican Poets Café’s theater. Algarín passed away in In New York City in November 2020.

Algarín’s published works include Song of Protest (his translation of Pablo Neruda’s Canción de Gesta, 1976), Mongo Affair: poems (1978), On Call (1980), Body bee calling from the 21st century (1982), Time’s Now/Ya Es Tiempo (1985), and Love is Hard Work: memorias de Loisaida (1997). Algarin was the editor of several anthologies: Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings (with Miguel Piñero, 1975), Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café (with Bob Holman, 1994), and Action: The Nuyorican Café Theater Festival (1997). His poetry can be found in numerous anthologies. He has written several plays, some of which have been staged in New York: Olu Clemente (Delacorte Theater, 1973), Apartment 6-D (Lincoln Center, 1974), The Murder of Pito (Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 1976) and Blue Heaven.