The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) presents readings by noted authors at 4 pm in the Library and Technology Center (LTC) on the IAIA campus. For questions regarding the MFA Library Readings, please contact IAIA Library Director Valerie Nye at (505) 424-2397 or vnye@iaia.edu. IAIA MFA Library Readings are free and open to the public.

Joaquin Zihuatanejo

Joaquin Zihuatanejo is a first year MFA student at the Institute of American Indian Arts.  His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, San Diego Poetry Annual, Di-Verse-City, Mas Tequila Review, Manteca, An Afro-Latino Anthology, among others.  Joaquin is a former Artist-in-Residence at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and counts Albuquerque as a home away from home to this day.  Joaquin is the founder and program director of Dallas Youth Poets, a non-profit organization in Dallas, that seeks to provide a platform for high school students to share their poems while providing them with free creative writing workshops throughout the year so they might work on their craft with poets and teachers at no cost to them or their families.  Joaquin is the only poet on the planet to win both the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship held in North America and the European World Cup of Poetry Slam Championship held in Paris, France. Joaquin has two passions in his life, his wife Aida and poetry—always in that order.