Poet and writer Miguel Algarín was born in Puerto Rico and raised in a culturally-minded household before moving to Manhattan in the early 1950s. In the early 1970s, he cofounded the Nuyorican Poets Café with Miguel Piñero, Pedro Pietri, and others, also serving on its board of directors. Algarín received four American Book Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, becoming the first Latino to win the coveted honor. He taught Shakespeare, creative writing, and United States ethnic literature for many years at Rutgers University, where he retained the title of professor emeritus.