Award-winning American slam poet and teacher Joaquín Zihuatanejo performs at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium.. The event, part of a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, is free and open to the public.

Zihuatanejo was born and raised in the barrio of east Dallas. In his work Zihuatenejo strives to capture the duality of the Chicano culture. Sometimes brutal, but always honest his work depicts the essence of barrio life, writing about a youth that existed somewhere between the streets of the barrio and the dream wanderings of a boy who found refuge in a world of stories and poems.

Zihuatanejo competed in the National Poetry Slam as part of the Dallas Poetry Slam team, which placed third. He alaso appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry in 2005. In 2008, he won the Individual World Poetry Slam and was the winner of the World Cup of Poetry Slam in 2009. Currently, Zihuatanejo resides near his hometown of Dallas with his wife and two daughters. Outside of poetry, Zihuatanejo taught English and creative writing for seven years.