Richard Blanco has been selected as the inaugural poet for the January 21 inauguration of President Barack Obama, the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Wednesday.

"Blanco will be the youngest-ever inaugural poet and the first Hispanic or LGBT person to recite a poem at the swearing-in ceremony," the committee said.

“I’m honored that Richard Blanco will join me and Vice President Biden at our second inaugural,” Obama said today, according to the committee's statement.

“His contributions to the fields of poetry and the arts have already paved a path forward for future generations of writers. Richard’s writing will be wonderfully fitting for an inaugural that will celebrate the strength of the American people and our nation’s great diversity,” Obama added.

"I’m beside myself, bestowed with this great honor, brimming over with excitement, awe, and gratitude,” Blanco, 44, said in a statement.