Pura Belpré was a legend in her own time—and in ours, as well. She was the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City and here at the New York Public Library, starting a job at the 135th Street branch (now Countee Cullen) in 1921, just a year after she emigrated from Puerto Rico.

Her exact birthday is disputed, but Belpré was around 21 or 22 when she came to this country. She must have been acutely aware of the needs of the city's immigrants, particularly the growing Puerto Rican community in Upper Manhattan.

To reach all kinds of Spanish-speaking residents, Belpré began to hold bilingual storytimes, often with puppets. ("Nobody was doing that back then," NPR noted.) Storytelling and folklore had been important to Belpre growing up, and after she came to New York, she traveled all over the city to perform before rapt audiences of kids and their families. She served as a kind of library ambassador to New York's newcomers, making sure that Spanish-speakers knew the library was meant for them, as well. 

Later in her career, Belpre's fame grew, and she published several books of Puerto Rican folktales, including La Cucaracha Martina y el Ratoncito Pérez or Perez and Martina—a love story between a cockroach and a rat. Belpré retired from NYPL in 1968.

Now, her name might ring a bell because of the Pura Belpré Medal, which the American Library Association presents every year "to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth."

The first winners, in 1996, were An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio by Judith Ortiz Cofer and Chato's Kitchen, with art by Susan Guevara and written by Gary Soto. Some of the most prominent Latinx authors and artists have received the award, including Elizabeth Acevedo, Yuyi Morales, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Meg Medina, and Sonia Manzano.

Want to learn more about Belpré's life and legacy? Check out The Stories I Read to the Children, a collection of Belpré's own stories and essays, and don't miss two picture book biographies in English and Spanish: Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré (Sembrando Historias : Pura Belpré : Bibliotecaria y Narradora de Cuentos)  by Anika Denise and The Storyteller's Candle by Lucía González.

And check out more information about our 2013 exhibit about Belpre's life and work at the Bronx Library Center.

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