Dallas' Joaquín Zihuatanejo named city's first poet laureate

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Dallas-native Joaquin Zihuatanejo has been named as the city's first poet laureate.

Mayor Eric Johnson made the announcement in a ceremony at Dallas City Hall Wednesday morning as part of Poetry Month.

Over a two-year term, Zihuatanejo will "represent the City of Dallas as an ambassador of the literary arts by presenting his original poems at schools and community events. He will be a liaison, advocate and leader who will inspire the diverse residents of Dallas County to read, write, perform and appreciate the written and spoken word," city officials said in a press release. He will also hold office hours at the Central Library on Young Street.

Zihuatanejo is a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School and the University of North Texas, where he received an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is also the author of six collections of poetry, including his most recent work "Arsonist" that won the 2017 Anhinga-Robert Dana Prize for Poetry.

In 2009, Zihuatanejo became the top ranked slam poet in the world after winning both the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship and the World Cup of Poetry Slam Championship.

The Dallas-native then founded Dallas Youth Poets in 2012, a nonprofit organization that aims to serve student poets in Dallas and to take them to the International Brave New Voices Poetry Slam Competition. He currently works with poets and students out of Elevate Studios in Oak Cliff.

For more information on the Dallas Poet Laureate program, click here.