Miguel Algarín was born on September 11, 1941, in Puerto Rico and as a young boy migrated to Manhattan with his family in the early 1950s. He earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and later an M.A. in English Literature from Pennsylvania State University. He then taught English, U.S. ethnic literature, and Shakespearean poetry at Rutgers University. Algarín contributed to the Nuyorican cultural movement originating in the 1960s, which involved writers, musicians, poets, and artists of Puerto Rican descent living in New York. He regularly hosted gatherings of writers in his apartment, which evolved into the Nuyorican Poets Café. On the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in the 1970s and still today, the Nuyorican Poets Café provided a platform for Puerto Rican writers and others not given space in mainstream poetry. The Café grew exponentially and eventually required a permanent space; it now flourishes in multiple venues across the Lower East Side. As a professor of Shakespearean poetry, Algarín connected the worlds of classical and rhythmic street poetics and advocated for Nuyorican poetry to be given equal respect. His notable works include Mongo Affair, his translation of Pablo Neruda’s Songs of Protest, and Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings. He died on November 20, 2020.