Pura Teresa Belpré y Nogueras, author, librarian, storyteller, folklorist, and puppeteer, was born on February 2, 1903 in Cidra, Puerto Rico to Carlota Nogueras, homemaker, and Felipe Belpré y Bernabé, a building contractor.

Belpré attended schools in Arroyo, Cayey, Guayama, San Juan and graduated from Santurce’s Central High School in 1919. She enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras for a year before traveling to Harlem to attend her sister’s wedding where afterwards she decided to remain a Harlemite. In 1921, the New York Public Library (NYPL) hired Belpré as an assistant at the 135th Street Branch (later Countee Cullen Branch). She attended the NYPL School at 42nd St. and 5th Ave., enrolling in Mary Gould Davis’ 1926 class “The Art of Storytelling.” In 1932, Belpré studied puppetry and Latin American literature at Columbia University. She was fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English.