Announcing the next Executive Director & President of the Academy of American Poets, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado

Dear Friends, 

Among my favorite things to do as Board Chair of the Academy of American Poets is to share good news. Today I’m delighted to announce that the Academy has selected Ricardo Alberto Maldonado to be its next Executive Director and President in a history-making appointment. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Maldonado is the first Latino to lead the Academy since its founding in 1934. He will begin his new role on July 17, 2023.
 
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. As a poet, translator, and arts administrator, 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 Board of Directors voted unanimously and enthusiastically to appoint Maldonado based on our belief that he will not only sustain the Academy’s marvelous array of poetry offerings, but will also strengthen, expand, and deepen them in the years to come.
 
Maldonado currently serves as the co-director of 92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center in New York City, where he produces one of the nation’s most prestigious reading series, as well as a curriculum of workshops for emerging writers and an annual poetry contest that has launched the careers of major poets. He founded the Center’s Young Writers Workshop, a teacher’s workshop focused on making poetry accessible to young readers, and a residency for Spanish-speaking poets. His projects of note include coediting A New Colossus, an online anthology of emerging voices celebrating Emma Lazarus’s work, which was featured in the New York Times, and Joy and Hope and All That, a tribute to the iconic American poet Lucille Clifton.
 
To learn more about Maldonado’s career highlights, visit the Academy’s press release on Poets.org. In addition, you’ll find information about the Academy’s national search process and testimonials about Maldonado’s leadership. 
 
As we welcome our new Executive Director and President, we look to these words by Langston Hughes: 

                                             We have tomorrow
                                             Bright before us
                                             Like a flame

Thank you for being an important part of our poetry community and for helping us continue to champion this essential art form.
 
Sincerely,
 

 
Tess O’Dwyer
Board Chair