Pura Belpré

Pura Belpré (February 2, 1899 – July 1, 1982) was the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City, as well as a writer, collector of folktales, and puppeteer.

Quotes

• [S]torytelling is a living art, and each teller embellishes, polishes and recreates as she goes along without losing the thematic value.
  • On how she viewed storytelling (as quoted in “Pura Belpré Lights the Storyteller’s Candle: Reframing the Legacy of a Legend and What it Means for the Fields of Latino/a Studies and Children’s Literature”)

• I searched for some of the folktales I had heard at home. There was not even one. A sudden feeling of loss rose within me.
  • On not seeing her culture represented in the New York Public Library’s collection (as quoted in “Pura Belpré Lights the Storyteller’s Candle: Reframing the Legacy of a Legend and What it Means for the Fields of Latino/a Studies and Children’s Literature”)

• To appreciate the present, one must have a knowledge of the past…to know where we go, we must know from where we came…
  • On how she felt that stories conveyed history (as quoted in “Pura Belpré Lights the Storyteller’s Candle: Reframing the Legacy of a Legend and What it Means for the Fields of Latino/a Studies and Children’s Literature”)