(A Night of) STORIES, POEMS, INTRIGUE, & THEATRE!

Presenting a night composed of equal parts storytelling and poetry, as two-time World Poetry Slam Champion and published author, Joaquín Zihuatanejo, brings his one-person show to the Rio Theatre for one night only. Never sacrificing substance for style, Joaquín's manic and passionate performance has been called by critics "a display of verbal fireworks that leaves audience members breathless and on the edge of their seats."

Joaquín will be presenting a new show made up of poems and stories from his life that will charge and challenge you to think and feel and perhaps even write more deeply. Yes, he has a new book, Occupy Whiteness, out now from Deep Vellum Publishing, and he will have a QR Code link for you to purchase either the paperback version or the ever convenient E-Book, but this show goes beyond his new book. He will bring poems and stories that capture his journey from a barrio boy raised by migrant field workers to the stages of Paris and two world championships.

Supporting Joaquín will be some of the most extraordinary Vancouver poets and storytellers that will bring their talents from The Vancouver Poetry Slam scene and the Vancouver Moth Story Slam scene to share the stage with Joaquín for one night only. We will laugh together...we will cry together...hell, we may even dance together. Get your tickets now and join us for a night that will stay with you long after the last story is told and the last poem performed. 

Featuring Special Guests:

Vancouver Story tellers: Karen Spears, and Erin Reddekopp

Vancouver Poets are: Anjalica Solomon and Lolu Oyedele 

Hosted by: Bryant Ross

Friday, July 11
Doors 7:00 pm | Show 8:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Assigned seating - $15 + s/c

Joaquín Zihuatanejo is the only poet on the planet to win the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship and the European World Cup of Poetry Slam Championship making him, for a two-year period, the number one ranked slam poet on the planet. His poems have been featured on NBC, HBO, and NPR in their series Historias and The National Teachers' Initiative. He has shared a stage with the late great Maya Angelou, as well as Alicia Keys, Dave Chappelle, John Legend, Pearl Jam and many others. Joaquín served as the Inaugural Dallas Poet Laureate and was awarded a $50,000 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship Prize in honor of the outstanding work he did as his city's first poet laureate. His last book, Arsonist, won the Anhinga-Robert Dana Prize for Poetry as selected by Eduardo C. Corral. His new book, Occupy Whiteness is out now from Deep Vellum Publishing. Occupy Whiteness is a collection of hybrid erasures that start with long form works of fiction and nonfiction by white, male authors. Joaquín then erases those books in their entirety down to a handful of words floating in a sea of white space. Joaquín then occupies that white space with what he calls, Brown verse. Someone recently asked him if he felt bad about taking words from white male authors...even if it's just a handful of words? Joaquín replied, "No. Because you see...I'm not taking any words. I'm discovering them. I'm colonizing them." Joaquín has two passions in his life, his partner Aída and poetry...always in that order.