Joaquín Zihuatanejo

Joaquín Zihuatanejo, born January 16, 1971, in Dallas, Texas, is a Chicano/Latinx poet and award-winning teacher. He received his BA in English from the University of North Texas and his MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

He is the author of Occupy Whiteness (Deep Vellum Books, 2024); Dollars for Scholars (CoolBooks Publishing, 2020); Arsonist (Anhinga Press, 2018), winner of the Anhinga-Robert Dana Prize for Poetry; Fight or Flight (CoolBooks Publishing 2016); Of Fire and Rain (Bonita Blvd Press, 2012), co-authored with natasha carrizosa; Family Tree (Bonita Blvd Press, 2010); Barrio Songs (Bonita Blvd Press 2008). 

Zihuatanejo is the winner of the 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam and the 2009 European World Cup of Poetry Slam held in Paris, France. 

He has been a Latinx Scholar at Tin House and a visiting faculty member at The Frost Place Conference on Teaching Poetry. His poem, "Nahui Ehecatl First Son Jaguar Son" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Sonora Review.

In 2022, he was named the inaugural poet laureate of Dallas, Texas.