Juan Felipe Herrera becomes first Mexican American U.S. poet laureate

Juan Felipe Herrera will begin his tenure as the 21st U.S. poet laureate in September. (Blue Flower Arts)

By Ron Charles June 10 at The Guardian

As a child, Juan Felipe Herrera learned to love poetry by singing about the Mexican Revolution with his mother, a migrant farmworker in California. Inspired by her spirit, he has spent his life crossing borders, erasing boundaries and expanding the American chorus.
On Wednesday, Herrera becomes the first Hispanic American to serve as poet laureate of the United States.

“I’m looking forward to a whole new world — and a new me,” Herrera said from his home in Fresno, Calif. “The times now seem to be evolving with voices of color. All voices are important, and yet it seems that people of color have a lot to say, particularly if you look through the poetry of young people — a lot of questions and a lot of concerns about immigration and security issues, you name it, big questions. All this is swirling in the air.”

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, who selected Herrera, said that his poems “champion voices, traditions and histories, as well as a cultural perspective, which is a vital part of our larger American identity.”
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And at The New York Times:

Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate With a Working-Class Voice Meant to Be Spoken