This is a list of Puerto Rican literary figures, including poets, novelists, short story authors, and playwrights. It includes people who were born in Puerto Rico, people who are of Puerto Rican ancestry, and long-term residents or immigrants who have made Puerto Rico their home, and who are recognized for their literary work.
Alba Ambert, novelist. In 1996 Ambert became the first Hispanic author to win the Carey McWilliams Award for Multicultural Literature, presented by the Multicultural Review, for her novel A Perfect Silence.[9]
Pedro I. Aponte Vázquez, historian, journalist, social scientist, professor and writer[10][11] Author of ¡Yo Acuso! Tortura y Asesinato de Don Pedro Albizu Campos.;[12]Pedro Albizu Campos: Su persecución por el F.B.I.;[13]Crónica de un encubrimiento: Albizu Campos y el caso Rhoads.;[14]Locura por decreto: El papel de Luis Muñoz Marín y José Trías Monge en el diagnóstico de locura de don Pedro Albizu Campos.;[15]El ataque Nacionalista a La Fortaleza;[16]The Unsolved Case of Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads: An Indictment.;[17]Transición [short stories];[18]La hacienda;[19]"Necator Americanus: O sobre la fisiología del caso Rhoads"[20]
Delma S. Arrigoitia, historian, author. Arrigoitia was the first person at the University of Puerto Rico to earn a master's degree in the field of history. In 2010, her book, Puerto Rico Por Encima de Todo: Vida y Obra de Antonio R. Barcelo, 1868–1938, was recognized among the best in the category of "research and criticism" and awarded a first place prize by the Ateneo Puertorriqueño.[21]
Francisco Arriví, writer, poet, and playwright. Arriví is known as "The Father of the Puerto Rican Theater".[22]
Alejandrina Benítez de Gautier, poet. Benítez de Gautier's collaboration with the "Aguinaldo Puertorriqueño" (Collection of Puerto Rican Poetry) gave her recognition as a great poet.[29]
Tomás Blanco, writer and historian. Blanco was the author of "Prontuario Historico de Puerto Rico" and "El Prejuicio Racial en Puerto Rico" (Racial Prejudice in Puerto Rico).[30]
Juan Boria, Afro-Caribbean poet. Boria, also known as the Negro Verse Pharaoh, was a poet known for his Afro-Caribbean poetry.[31]
Gerson Borrero, journalist, radio host and TV commentator in New York City. He has been editor-at-large of City & State NY and editor-in-chief of El Diario/La Prensa[32]
Julia de Burgos, one of the greatest poets to have been born in Puerto Rico; author of "Yo misma fui mi ruta" and "Poema Río Grande de Loíza".[35]
German William Cabassa Barber, award-winning drama, science fiction and poetry writer. [36]
Pedro Cabiya, writer, poet and filmmaker. Author of the seminal Historias tremendas. Other books include Historias atroces, La cabeza, Malas hierbas, Trance, Crazy X-Ray Boomeranf Girl, Ánima Sola, Phantograms and Saga de Sandulce.[37]
Luisa Capetillo, labor activist. Capetillo was one of Puerto Rico's most famous labor organizers. She was also a writer and an anarchist who fought for workers' and women's rights.[39]
N. Humberto Cintrón, novelist, author of Frankie Christo (1972)[24]
Joaquín Colón (1896–1964), author of Pioneros puertorriqueños en Nueva York[40]
Manuel Corchado y Juarbe, poet, journalist and politician. Corchado y Juarbe defended the abolition of slavery and the establishment of a university in Puerto Rico.[41]
Juan Antonio Corretjer, poet. Corretjer was also a journalist and pro-independence political activist who opposed United States rule in Puerto Rico.[42]
Nicky Cruz, reverend. Cruz has written two autobiographies, Run Baby Run, with Jamie Buckingham (1968), and Soul Obsession, with Frank Martin (2005).[45]
Victor Hernández Cruz, poet and essayist. Random House published Cruz's first poetry collection, Snaps (1969), when he was nineteen.
José de Diego, "The Father of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement". De Diego was then elected to the House of Delegates, the only locally elected body of government allowed by the U.S., and which De Diego presided over from 1904 to 1917.[52]
Caridad de la Luz a.k.a. La Bruja, poet, playwright, actress and activist. She is also the writer/actor of Boogie Rican Blvd.[53]
Héctor Feliciano, author. Feliciano's book The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art has shed a light on an estimated 20,000 looted works; each one is owned by a museum or a collector somewhere.[56]
Carole Fernández, novelist, author of Sleep of the Innocents (1991)[24]
Victor Hernández Cruz, poet. In 1969, Hernández Cruz became the first Hispanic to be published by a mainstream publishing house when Random House published his poem "Snaps".[67] In 1981, Life Magazine named him one of America's (US) greatest poets.[9]
Eugenio María de Hostos a.k.a. "El Ciudadano de las Américas" (The Citizen of the Americas), educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist, and independence advocate.
Manuel Manrique, novelist, author of Island in Harlem (1966)[24]
Hugo Margenat, poet. Margenat was also the founder of the political youth pro-independence organizations "Acción Juventud Independentista" and "Federación de Universitarios Pro Independencia".[83]
René Marqués, playwright. Marqués wrote La Carreta (The Oxcart), which helped secure his reputation as a leading literary figure in Puerto Rico.[84]
Manuel Martínez Maldonado (born 1937), physician, poet, novelist, author of poetry books La voz sostenida and La novela del medio día and of the novel Isla Verde[85]
Antonio Martorell (born 1939), painter, graphic artist, writer and radio and television personality[1]
Nancy Mercado, poet, playwright. Mercado is the author of "It Concerns the Madness," seven theatre plays, and a number of essays. Her work has been extensively anthologized.[90]
Nicholasa Mohr, writer. Her works, including the novel Nilda, tell of growing up in the Puerto Rican communities of the Bronx and El Barrio and of the difficulties Puerto Rican women face in the United States.[91][92]
Mercedes Negrón Muñoz, a.k.a. "Clara Lair", poet. Negrón Muñoz was an influential poet whose work dealt with the everyday struggles of the common Puerto Rican.[95]
Micol Ostow, author. Ostow wrote Mind Your Manners, Dick and Jane. Her novel Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.[98]
Juan Ponce de León II, first Puerto Rican acting governor. His written work Memorias de Melgarejo (Melgarejo's Memoirs) is one of Puerto Rico's most important historical documents.[105]
Oswaldo Rivera, novelist, author of Fire and Rain (1990)[24]
Abraham Rodríguez, Jr., short story author; works include Ashes to Ashes (1989),[24]Boy Without a Flag, Spidertown, The Buddha Book, South by South Bronx
Leonardo Rodríguez, short story author; works include They Have to Be Puerto Ricans (1988)[24]
Bonafide Rojas, poet, musician, author of Pelo Bueno (2004), When the City Sleeps (2012), Renovatio (2014), Notes On The Return To The Island (2017), & Excelsior (2024)[111][112]
Efe Rosario, poet. Author of El tiempo ha sido terrible con nosotros (2020),[114] También mueren los lugares donde fuimos felices (2020)[115] & Mermar (2024)[116]
Richard Ruíz, novelist, author of The Hungry American (1978)[24]
Joe Sánchez, former New York City police officer. Sánchez was a "highly decorated former New York City police officer and author whose books give an insight as to the corruption within the department."[119]
^ abcdefghijklmnlisted in Víctor Federico Torres, Diccionario de autores puertorriqueños contemporáneos, Plaza Mayor, 2009.
^listed in David William Foster, ed., Latin American Writers on Gay and Lesbian Themes: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.
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^Cesáreo Rosa-Nieves, Esther Melón de Díaz (1970). Biografías puertorriqueñas: perfil histórico de un pueblo. Troutman Press. p. 145.
^López Baralt, Mercedes. Literatura Puertorriqueña del Siglo XX: Antología. San Juan: EDUPR, 2004.
^Iguina Goitia ,J.J. Author, poet and writer born in 1952 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Wrote his first book during the 2019 pandemic, from here on, has not stopped writing. Among his published books are, "Enseñanzas del Fregadero" Amazon 2021, "Entre Olas y Dos Ríos" Amazon 2022.
^ abcMorales-Díaz, Enrique. "Identity of the 'Diasporican' Homosexual in the Literary Periphery." In José L. Torres-Padilla and Carmen Haydée Rivera, eds. Writing Off the Hyphen: New Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. 295–312. ISBN978-0-295-98824-5
^Rodríguez-Matos, Carlos Antonio. "Matos-Cintrón, Nemir." In Latin American Writers on Gay and Lesbian Themes, ed. David William Foster, 216–17. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.
^Quiroga, José. "Ramos Otero, Manuel." Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900–2003, ed. Daniel Balderston and Mike Gonzalez, 471–72. New York: Routledge, 2004. ISBN0-415-30687-6.
^"JUSTIPRECIACIÓN DE LA OBRADE FRANCISCO ROJAS TOLLINCHI"; by Ada Hilda Martínez de Alicea; Dept. Estudios Hispánicos Pontificia Universidad Católica de PR.
^"Luisita López Torregrosa." Diasporic Journeys: Interviews with Contemporary Puerto Rican Writers in the United States. Carmen Haydée Rivera, ed. New York: CENTRO Press, 2023. 52-67. ISBN979-8396590083
^Chew, Selfa A.; Vázquez, Lourdes (1 January 2004). "Un punto de vista diferente: entrevista a Lourdes Vázquez". Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe. 28 (3): 265–268. JSTOR25745872.
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Martínez Márquez, Alberto, and Mario Cancel. El límite volcado. Antología de la Generación de Poetas de los Ochenta. San Juan: Isla Negra, 2000.
Milligan, Bryce, Floricanto Sí!: A Collection of Latina Poetry. Penguin, 1998.
Moreira, Rubén Alejandro. Antología de la poesía puertorriqueña. Vol. I Romanticismo; Vol.II Modernismo y Postmodernismo; Vol. III Contemporánea; Vol. IV Contemporánea. San Juan: Tríptico, 1992–1993.
Ortega, Julio. Antología de la poesía latinoamericana del siglo XXI: el turno y la transición. México: Editorial Siglo XXI, 1997.
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