The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Miguel Piñero was born in 1946 in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, and passed away in New York, New York in 1988. He was a poet, playwright, actor, and screenwriter, as well as one of the founders of the Nuyorican Poets Café. Piñero moved to the Lower East Side, New York, New York with his family in 1950. As a teenager, Piñero spent time in the Otisville State Training School for Boys, a facility for juvenile delinquents. In 1964, he served time in Rikers Island and in 1971 he served time in Sing Sing Correctional Facility where he participated in a drama class taught by Marvin Felix Camillo. During this time, Piñero began composing the play, Short Eyes (1974) in Sing Sing. The play received the 1974 Obie Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play (1973-1974). Piñero went on to write dialogue for television crime dramas, including Miami Vice, Baretta, and Kojak, as well as made-for-television movies, such as The Jericho Mile (1979). He also worked as a character actor. Piñero won additional awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts, United States and Canada (1982) and Drama Desk Award for Best New Playwright (1974). His published works include Outlaw: The Collected Works (2010), The Sun Always Shines for the Cool (1984), Outrageous: One-Act Plays (1986), and La Bodega Sold Dreams (1980). 

Works Cited

Alarcón McKesson, Norma. “Interview with Miguel Piñero.” Revista Chicano-Riqueña, vol. 2, no. 4, Feb. 1975, pp. 55–57.

Bush, Ellen C. “Miguel Piñero: prisoner, playwright.” The University of North Carolina Press Blog, 19 Dec. 2009, https://uncpressblog.com/2009/12/19/miguel-pinero/. 

Iglesias, Jorge. “ “Introduction to the Drama of Miguel Piñero.” Outlaw: The Collected Works of Miguel Piñero. Houston, Arte Público Press, 2010, pp.xv-xxvi

Kanellos, Nicolás. “Introduction to the Poetry of Miguel Piñero.” Outlaw: The Collected Works of Miguel Piñero. Houston, Arte Público Press, 2010, pp. vii-xiii.

“Miguel Piñero.” IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0684102/?ref_=fn_all_nme_1.