Tato Laviera

Tato Laviera (Jesús Abraham Laviera, 1950-2013) was a Nuyorican poet and playwright whose work explored the bilingual, bicultural experience of Puerto Ricans in the United States. Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, he moved to New York's Lower East Side at age ten.

Laviera's most famous poem, 'AmeRícan' (1985), challenged the definition of American identity from the perspective of a Puerto Rican living in the United States — neither fully accepted as American nor fully belonging to the island. The poem's title, with its embedded 'Rícan,' redefined what it meant to be American.

His five poetry collections — 'La Carreta Made a U-Turn' (1979), 'Enclave' (1981), 'AmeRícan' (1985), 'Mainstream Ethics' (1988), and 'Mixturao' (2008) — documented the evolution of diaspora consciousness over three decades. 'La Carreta Made a U-Turn' directly responded to René Marqués's influential play 'La Carreta,' arguing that Puerto Rican identity could be authentically lived on the mainland — not only on the island.

Laviera was the best-selling Latino poet in the United States during his lifetime. He was also a community organizer and educator who worked with youth in the Lower East Side. His death in 2013 was mourned across the Puerto Rican literary world.