Bernard McKenna Richard Blanco papers

Container List

"Burning Rain" novel treatment, 2005 Box 1, F1

A ten-page treatment for an unpublished novel "Burning Rain" about an academic searching for her familial roots in Cuba. Along with the treatment is the email that was sent 2005 March 18 to McKenna introducing the project and asking for feedback, as well as a final page with specific questions on the project.

Carlos Betancourt gallery exhibit catalogs, 2002-2004 Box 1, F2

Catalogs from art exhibits done by a personal friend, Puerto Rican-American artist Carlos Betancourt (born 1966). Betancourt took the cover photo of Directions to the Beach of the Dead (2005) and to whom the book is partially dedicated. Betancourt and Blanco were both members of the artist community in Miami and Betancourt attended Miami-Dade Community College where Blanco and McKenna taught. The catalogs detail both solo and group exhibits that featured Betancourt in 2002 and 2004. This folder includes a handwritten and signed note about the catalogs.

"Journey to the Beach of the Dead" typescript, 2005 Box 1, F3

A typescript of Blanco's second book of poetry, Directions to the Beach of the Dead (2005), with an earlier title "Journey to the Beach of the Dead." This typescript was the version he sent to publishers; the extensive edits were made to poems including "November Crosswords" ("Empty Crosswords" in the published edition), "Brothers," "No More Than This, Provincetown," and "Sending Palms in a Letter." This manuscript contains several poems not published in the final version, such as "Missouri Between Venice and Paris," "Some Nights on the Back Porch," and "Nature Over Coffee."

Interview and miscellaneous, 2000-2011 Box 1, F4

Miscellaneous items such as an email interview conducted in 2000 by a student from Wesley College, a photograph of Blanco at Bernard McKenna's wedding, and an initialed handwritten note introducing a published copy of Blanco’s third collection of poetry, Looking for the Gulf Motel.