The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Both a playwright and poet, Lucky CienFuegos was born in the 1950s in Lajas, Puerto Rico and grew up in the Lower East Side of New York City. In 1973, he co-founded the Nuyorican Poets Café. He was the author of several plays, including Congo Mania, Flamingo, and Hustlers with Worn Out Shoes. In 1980, he was accepted into the María Irene Fornés INTAR Hispanic Playwrights in Residence Laboratory, where he workshopped with a group of other writers, including Victor Fragoso, Pedro Pietri, and Sandra Maria Esteves. His work has been anthologized in Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings, amongst other publications. 

Works Cited

Kanellos, Nicolás. Interview. Conducted by Claire Jimenez, 9 October 2023.

“Series of Staged Readings Will Open at Intar Nov. 5,” The New York Times, 27 October 1980, p. 18.

Vidal, David. “‘Nuyoricans’ Express Pain and Joy in Poetry.” The New York Times, 14 May 1976, p. 29.