The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Willie Perdomo is a poet, writer, and educator born in 1967 in Manhattan, New York. He holds a BA and an MFA. in creative writing from Long Island University. Perdomo is the author of Smoking Lovely: The Remix (Haymarket Books, 2021), The Crazy Bunch (Penguin, 2019), The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin, 2014), and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime (Norton, 1996). He was also a co-editor of the anthology The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext (Haymarket Books, 2020). In 2021, he was appointed the New York State Poet Laureate. Perdomo is the recipient of the 2021 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, the 2019 New York City Book Award in Poetry, the 2018 Lucas Fellowship at the Montalvo Arts Center, the 2009 New York Council of the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, the 2008 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Residency and the 2004 PEN Open Book Award. He was also a finalist for the 2015 Milt Kessler Poetry Books Award, the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 1996 Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award. Perdomo currently teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Works Cited

Perdomo, Willie. Author Questionnaire. The Puerto Rican Literature Project, 2024.

Perdomo, Willie. Interview. Conducted by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, 20 Aug. 2021.