Mateo Acuña

Mateo Acuña was born on May 13, 2003, in Federal Way, Washington. He is a queer and trans Latin, Indigenous poet, writer, and activist. He made his literary debut at age nineteen as the 2023–24 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate. 

Acuña’s term culminated in the publication of his first chapbook, Dear Spanish, published by Poetry Northwest, and the debut of his twenty-minute chamber opera, Blood Dawn of the Inti Sun, which was composed by Mina Pariseau and developed through the Seattle Opera Creation Lab.

Acuña has received fellowships from Jack Straw Cultural Center, UrbanWordNYC, EchoX, and the Future Perfect Project. He is also the recipient of the 2024 Dwone Anderson-Young Youth Leadership Award for QT-BIPOC activists. 

In 2024, at age twenty, Acuña was appointed the poet laureate of Auburn through 2026, making him not only the youngest poet laureate of a city but also the first openly queer and/or trans person of color to hold the position in Auburn. A lifelong resident of Auburn, he splits his time between there and Seattle.