Registering for the open mic is required!  Signing up to read is first come, first served. You can add yourself to the reader's queue upon registration (below). 

Please join California Poets in the Schools for a community open mic at 7pm, Sunday, October 23rd, Featuring Nels Christianson (former Area Coordinator and current board member) and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl (Poet-Teacher).

The event is part of a quarterly series of open mic events meant to foster community amongst our network, and to highlight our fantastic poets.  Each event will spotlight one or two poets from the CalPoets' network as featured readers, and an emcee (also from the network). On the 23rd, our featured readers will launch the event with a 15 minute reading (each) and then we'll then transition into an open mic.  

• teens 14+ & adults welcome
• register online & join link will be sent before the event
• event will occur on Zoom
• event will not be livestreamed
• there will be time for 20 open mic readers, give or take
• each reader will have 3(ish) minutes to read or perform
• reader slots are first come, first served... If you are interested in reading, please note in the registration form.
• thanks for bringing poems that are fit for all ages 14+ 

Feature Poets:

Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, or Diosa X for short, is a multilingual and multidimensional Xicana, Indigenous, MeXicana poetiza. She has been published in literary journals and magazines as well as several anthologies in both English and Spanish. She has featured, presented, and performed nationally and internationally, most recently winning the Slam Diáspora of Chicago. Diosa X is the author of two poetry collections: A Church of My Own (2021) and Hechizera: Sus Sultry Spells (2022).

Nels Christianson Nels is a native of rural Merced County from which he draws much of his inspiration. He has been a board member of California Poets in the Schools since 2009. A few years ago, he co-coordinated a 2-year poetry composition program which was a CalPoets/Beyond Baroque collaboration in Venice, California.