City of Albuquerque Poet Laureate (2016-2018), began his career in the poetry slam and has represented Albuquerque four times as a member of the Albuquerque poetry slam team. After working in Albuquerque’s poetry community for 6 yrs, Manuel began to use slam poetry to help local youth find positive and constructive ways to deal with life’s pressures. Manuel began teaching workshops on self-expression through poetry in high schools, youth detention centers and also started facilitating art therapy programs to help at-risk and incarcerated youth. In 2014, Manuel started Low Writing at El Chante, a free bi-monthly writer’s group open to all members of the community. In 2016, Manuel was selected as Albuquerque’s 3rd poet laureate and has continued his passion for helping others heal and express themselves through poetry. Manuel has appeared on the PBS show, ¡COLORES!: My word is my power and on ¡COLORES! 9/23/2017and has two collections of his poetry published entitled, But my friends call me Burque…. and Om Boy (Swimming with Elephants Press) His third book, Duende de Burque: Albuquerque Musings (UNM Press), just released February 2021 and is available now. Currently, Manuel is working with the University of New Mexico Chicana/Chicano Studies program as a consultant.
Sarita Sol González is a 16-year-old performance poet from Albuquerque, New Mexico currently attending New Mexico School for the Arts. Sarita has been published in various poetry anthologies and in 2016 published Burquenita (Swimming With Elephants Publications). Sarita was a featured speaker at Albuquerque TEDxYouth 2015 and a featured performer at TEDxABQ Main Event 2018. In April of 2016, Sarita had the honor of being invited by US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, to perform with him at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Sarita has also been awarded the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce 2016 President’s Award for her accomplishments in poetry and most recently a 2018 Albuquerque Creative Bravos Award for using her poetry in community outreach. She also had the privilege to open for professor and jazz icon Dr. Ron McCurdy and his presentation of The Langston Hughes Project’s Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz at the University of New Mexico’s Popejoy Hall in February of 2020. Sarita currently manages and hosts WOC: Women of Color Open Mic at El Chante: Casa de Cultura. A monthly poetry open mic and feature with the priority on WOC voices.
View their poetry on OFPL’s YouTube Channel.