Zachary Kluckman, the National Poetry Awards 2015-2016 Slam Organizer of the Year and 2014 Slam Artist of the Year, is a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Medal Poetry Teacher, Red Mountain Press National Poetry Prize recipient and a founding organizer of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change program, now recognized as the largest poetry reading in history. Kluckman has appeared multiple times at the National and Individual World Poetry slams and tours the nation as a spoken word artist. Recently he was one of 3 poets invited to represent the United States at the Kistrech International Poetry Festival in Kenya. Kluckman is the Slam Manager and founder of MindWell Poetry in Albuquerque, New Mexico and has authored two poetry collections, “The Animals in Our Flesh” and “Some of It is Muscle”.
Kristin Patton, an Albuquerque, New Mexico native, grew up writing poetry in the back of the classroom. After stumbling into a poetry reading in 2015, she began frequenting open mics and poetry slams to support personal growth and mental health. She recently earned a spot on the 2019 & 2020 MindWell Slam teams, which competed at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam and placed Third at the Southwest Shootout regional. Kristin holds the 2019 title of Poetry Goddess of Albuquerque and will represent her community at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2020.When not attending poetry events, Kristin is learning to enjoy this thing called life.
Rene Mullen is managing editor for a PR firm in Albuquerque, performance and traditional poet, and author of the full-length poetry collection This Still Breathing Canvas. His poetry has been featured in Poetry Quarterly, 50 Haikus, and the Santa Fe Literary Review.
Marcial Delgado is the host and organizer for the vibrant and welcoming space known as Voices of the Barrio Open Mic Poetry at El Chante:Casa de Cultura in the heart of downtown Albuquerque. Marcial’s first publication, Sell Me Insanity, (published by Swimming With Elephants Publications) was released in 2019. Marcial Delgado is just a vato from the barrio who fell in love with writing and poetry.
Dolores “Scarlett” Cortez is an artist from Santa Fe,New Mexico . She works with a variety of media depending on what best represents her concepts, primarily photography,printmaking and poetry.