Writing Alumnus Ricardo Alberto Maldonado ’08 has recently been appointed as the Executive Director and President of the Academy of American Poets. This marks an unprecedented moment as Maldonado, currently the co-director of 92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center in New York City, becomes the first Latino leader in the Academy's nearly century-long history. He will begin his new role on July 17, 2023.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Maldonado is a well-known poet, translator, and an advocate for the arts, acknowledged for his deep understanding of the diverse fabric of American poetry. As a co-director of 92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center, he has produced one of the country’s most prestigious reading series and helped to create a curriculum of workshops for emerging poets. He founded the Young Writers Workshop for students, helped spearhead the organization’s DEI committee, and co-edited Puerto Rico en mi corazón (Anomalous, 2019), a bilingual collection of contemporary works by 40 Puerto Rican poets, created to support the recovery efforts of 2017's Hurricane Maria.
“We searched for a leader who was not merely seeking a job in poetry, but who was already fully invested in living out the vocation of poetry,” Board Chair Tess O’Dwyer said in a statement. “As a poet, translator, and arts administrator, Ricardo Maldonado brings to the Academy of American Poets an intense passion for our mission, stellar nonprofit leadership experience, strong project management skills, a commitment to education and community-building, and a depth of knowledge about American poetry from the nineteenth century poets to the cutting-edge voices of today.”
The Academy of American Poets is the leading organization focused on poetry in the United States. Founded by 23-year-old poet Marie Bullock in 1934, the organization helps both new and experienced poets by awarding grants, providing educational resources to teachers, and maintaining poets.org. The Academy also publishes a magazine called American Poets.
Maldonado is also the translator of Dinapiera Di Donato’s Colaterales (Akashic Books/National Poetry Series) and the recipient of fellowships in poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts and Queer/Arts/Mentorship.
