Latine Poets -

A Review of Hartford’s Latine Culture and Poets

by José B. González

Puerto Ricans and Other Latine Populations in Hartford

With a population that is over 40 percent Latine, Hartford has been home to thousands of residents from Latin American and the Caribbean. Puerto Ricans encompass the largest Latine group and have the earliest history in the city. Their first arrival in large numbers came in the 1940s, when they arrived primarily for work opportunities in factories and farming. The U.S. Census did not start to count the number of Puerto Ricans in Hartford until 1969. At that point, it claimed that Hartford had 8,543, a contrast to local estimates provided by the Hartford Courant, which had that number closer to 20,000 (Cruz, 1997). Since then, the number of Puerto Ricans in the city has doubled to closer to 40,000 as Hartford neighborhoods such as Clay Hill, Park Street, and South Green have become home to generations of Puerto Ricans.

1969 served as a pivot point for Puerto Ricans in Hartford. That year, racial tensions exploded, resulting in rioting. In turn, Puerto Rican leaders partnered with socially conscious organizations to improve socioeconomic conditions. The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, for example, provided nearly $80,000 to the “Greater Hartford Community Council to hire a full-time community organizer to work with Puerto Ricans” (Cruz, 1997). Although change was not immediate, the 1970s saw a lot of firsts in the city, with Puerto Ricans serving in leadership positions and the state and city developing initiatives aimed to address the needs of Puerto Ricans and Latine groups. That momentum carried into the future, and in 2001, Eddie Perez served as the first Hartford mayor of Puerto Rican descent.

Perhaps the biggest symbol of the cultural influence of Puerto Ricans in the city lies in the Greater Hartford Puerto Rican Day Parade which features over 3,000 marchers and an average audience of between 5,000 and 10,000. The annual celebration of Puerto Rican music, arts, and traditions has taken place since 1964 and is now followed with a Festival del Coquí in Bushnell Park right after the parade.

Not surprisingly, the Latine population has become more diverse. In 2021, 10.1% of its foreign-born population was from Central America, 19% was from South America, while Puerto Ricans stood at 34%. Even the city’s Minor League baseball team, the Hartford Yard Goats, hosts such events as Cuban Heritage Night, Roberto Clemente night, and other events celebrating other Latine groups.

As a central urban space with one of the liveliest literary scenes in Connecticut, Hartford has been a birthplace as well as a place of inspiration for Latine authors. In addition, its many venues have attracted Latine authors to the city to present their writing to diverse Latine and non-Latine audiences. Hartford Public Library, Capital Community College, and Trinity College, regularly host Latine-themed events that often feature authors of Latine descent. Hartford Stage includes Latine playwrights in their annual seasonal play offerings. Latine Local publications such as The Hartford Courant and CT Latino News, have also supported these authors by covering stories about their readings and works.

A Selection of Writers Associated with Hartford

Bessy Reyna (1942-)

Bessy Reyna was born in Cuba and was raised in Panama. Beyond being an internationally renowned poet and an activist for Latine populations and authors, she once served as an opinion columnist for The Hartford Courant and Northeast magazine. Throughout her career, she has written about Hartford, has been a featured presenter in Hartford and has been responsible for organizing events that include Latine authors in Hartford.

Reyna has been a champion for Latine authors throughout the U.S. and has been honored for her efforts on the national and state levels. She has interviewed poets who were featured at the Sunken Garden Festival and has written for Identidad Latina and CT Latino News. She was also instrumental in the creation of a two-week poetry festival in Hartford that brought poets to Hartford neighborhoods and involved immigrant communities. Her awards include First Prize in the Joseph E. Brodine Poetry Competition and artist award grants from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism and the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

Reyna’s poetry includes the bilingual collections, The Battlefield of Your Body (Hill-Stead Museum, 2025) and Memoirs of the Unfaithful Lover/ Memorias de la amante infiel (tunAstral, A.C., 2010, Toluca Mexico). Her poetry chapbook, She Remembers, was published by Andrew Mountain Press in 1997. Her poem “Freedom Journey,” written in four voices, was commissioned by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas Freedom Journey’s Project and will be in the archives of the Hartford History Center. Reyna has also published other collections in Spanish in Latin America.

Ines P. Rivera-Prosdocimi (1981-)

Ines P. Rivera-Prosdocimi is Associate Professor of English at the University of Hartford. She is the author of the poetry collection, Love Letter to an Afterlife (Black Lawrence Press, 2018) and her poems have appeared in such publications as The American Poetry Review, The Caribbean Writer, New Letters, Kweli, and The New York Times Magazine. She has also been Guest Editor for the Connecticut Literary Anthology. Locally, she has presented at such venues as the University of Hartford Humanities Center, the Connecticut Literary Festival, Charter Oak Readings, West End Poetry Society, and the Rose Garden.

Luisa Caycedo-Kimura (1962-)

Luisa Caycedo-Kimura is the author of the Hillary Tham Capital Collection competition winner, All Were Limones (Hilary Tham Capital Collection, 2025). Born in Colombia, she has been a featured presenter throughout Hartford, including at the Metro Cafe, the University of Hartford, Trinity College, the Connecticut Literary Festival, The Studio at Billings Forge, St. John’s Church and the Hartford Public Library. Her poems have been published in such places as Denver Quarterly, The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, Rattle, Diode, and RHINO.

Shakira R. Perez (1977-)

Shakira R. Perez was born and raised in Hartford and is the author of the self-published Brave Bird: A Choreopoem. An English teacher at Hartford’s Classical Magnet School, she was the 2020 Hartford Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year.

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