Alberto Blanco, in addition to being one of the most recognized contemporary Latin American poets, is also an essayist, translator, musician, and visual artist. Born in Mexico City in 1951, he studied chemistry and philosophy at Universidad Ibero Americana and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and he worked on a Master’s degree in Asian Studies, specializing in China, at the Colegio de México. His first published work was in 1970—the same year as his first music band—and his first art exhibit took place in 1981. He was co-editor and designer of the poetry journal, El Zaguán (1975-1977), and was awarded grants from the Centro Mexicano de Escritores (1977), from Insituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1980, from Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, in 1990, the Fulbright Foundation in 1991 and the Rockefeller Foundation in 1992). In 1994, he was accepted into the Sistema Nacional de Creadores in México, and in 2001, he received the Octavio Paz Poetry Award. In 2008, he was awarded a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation. Blanco’s literary work is varied and abundant. He has published twenty-six books of poetry in Mexico and another eight in other countries. Also, ten books of his translations of the work of other poets and some favorites for children which have been illustrated —most of them— with his wife, Patricia Revah’s textiles. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.