Alberto Blanco: Mexico Author

I have this as a definition for me, or a possible definition- poetry is the other way of using language. It's just that simple. All ways of using language that we know constitute one form, and the other is poetry.

Alberto Blanco

Alberto Blanco is considered to be one of Mexico's greatest poets. He began his quest to understand and create poetry in his late teens. He explains that he found himself through poetry. For Blanco, poetry is not only a way to express one's inner landscape but also a way to access ideas and thoughts that may otherwise never be realized.

Born in Mexico City, Mexico in February Born in Mexico City, 18, 1951, he is seen as a Renaissance man versed in many areas. In college he studied chemistry at Universidad Iberoamericana and philosophy at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He then a Master of Arts in Oriental Studies at El Colegio de México. He has received many honors including grants from Centro Mexicano de Escritores (Mexican Center of Writers, 1977), el Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (the National Institute of Fine Arts, 1980), and the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Fund for Culture and Arts, 1990). In 1991 he received a grant from the Fulbright Program as a poet-in-residence at the University of California, Irvine; and in 1992 he was awarded a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. He was admitted into the Sistema Nacional de Creadores (National System of Creative Artists) in 1994, for which he has also been a juror. In 2001 he received the Octavio Paz Grant for Poetry, and in 2008 he was awarded a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation.

Well-known as a visual artist, Blanco has collaborated with his wife, Patricia Revah, to incorporate cloth and other techniques to combine text with images. He also has illustrated nearly one hundred book covers and many books contain his work in collage. José Emilio Pacheco, a Mexican poet, comments that Blanco's background in chemistry, visual artistry, jazz, Chinese studies, and Zen Buddhism all combine to influence the depth and breadth of his poetry.

Blanco's work has included poetry, essays, and translations. He is the author of twenty-six poetry books including four anthologies, ten translations of other authors' work, and twelve children's books. Translations of his work are available in a dozen languages and he has received acclaim in Mexico and abroad.