members
willy palomo
Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Utah, Willy (he/they/she) is the queer son of two refugees from El Salvador. A veteran of the Salt Lake City poetry slam scene, his fiction, essays, poetry, and translations can be found across print and web pages, including the Best New Poets 2018, Latino Rebels, The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, and more. He has performed at or keynoted the National Council of Urban Educators Association, the SUU Pride Film Festival, the Indiana Latino Leadership Conference, el Festival Internacional de Poesia Amada Libertad, the National Poetry Slam, and more. He has taught classes and courses on literature, rap, and creative writing in universities, juvenile detention centers, high schools, and community centers. In April 2023, he independently released his debut rap album Enter Da Boombow. In September 2023, he published his debut collection of poetry Wake the Others with Editorial Kalina and Glass Spider Publishing.
chelsea guevara
Chelsea Guevara (she/ella) is the 2024 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, the first Salvadoran to win the title. In the past, she has also served as a coach for competitive high school poetry teams, including the Kearns High School Slam Poetry Team who won the title of 2022 Team State Champions. She continues to focus her writing on culture and history, joy and resistance, and the complexities of identity. You can find her work on Button Poetry and Write About Now Poetry. Chelsea is currently a graduate student in the Latin American Studies program at the University of Arizona. She has been featured in Salt Lake Community College, the University of Utah, National Council of Urban Educators Association, and National AHEC Organization's 2023 Biennial Conference, where she was a keynote speaker for an audience of over 500 attendees. For the last 3 years, she has organized "Salt Lake Speaks" slam poetry event in partnership with the Eccles Theater, which has served hundreds of Utah community members.
Sarah may
Sarah May (she/hers) is a biracial Salvadoreña artist, weaver, storyteller, and community organizer based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah with her BFA in Photography & Digital Imaging and her MA in Community Leadership with an Emphasis in Art & Culture from Westminster College. Sarah coordinates and facilitates designated spaces of healing, connection, and empowerment for BIPOC communities with an emphasis in Black, Indigenous, and Womxn, Femmes of Colour. She is a facilitator and coordinator for two groups for Womxn, Femmes, and Non-Binary People of Colour at the YWCA Utah; the Color Collective, an intersectional community group, and the Woke Words Reading and Writing Series.
Sarah creates work exploring the intricacy of narrative through merging multiple mediums together, reflecting on the collective human experience using cyanotype, film photography, found objects, textiles, and her own writing. Her work and process reflect her journey exploring identity as being cyclical and evolving, connecting to ancestry, and the idea of destiny and healing as intertwined.
Monica lisette
Monica Lisette (she/ella) is a Chicana poet from West Jordan. She is a poet, baker, and lover (although not always in that order). She has competed with Plumas Colectiva and Salt City slam. She’s placed nationally at NPS in group pieces and has performed, competed, and taught around Utah. Her work centers around her culture, generational trauma, and navigating the world as a Latina. Monica is almost exclusively a notes app writer and will definitely ask you your sign.
Melissa Salguero
Marilyn Melissa Salguero (she/ella) is a Disabled, Guatemalan poet who puts the SALT in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the human equivalent of red wine, crushed velvet and using humor as a poor coping mechanism. Melissa's work centers on her life, relationships, and identity. She has been featured in numerous publications including Write About Now Poetry, Ink & Nebula, Rising Phoenix Press, and Crepe & Penn. She was a 2020 nominee for the Pushcart Prize in poetry and a recipient of the Academy of American Poets student contest for 2020. When not yelling about white boys or making God metaphors, Melissa can be found feeding her online shopping addiction, blasting Gloria Trevi, or living up to her title as the quintessential “bitter ex girlfriend poet”. Her work (along with her emotional overflow) can be found on twitter @_Miss_Marilyn, or in her chapbook "Cannibal".
Frances ngo
Frances Ngo (she/her) is a tiny queer artist, biologist, and proud multiracial Mexican & Chinese poet. You’ll often find her roaming through fields, forests, and fens in search of her next subject or a good nature metaphor. She’s the artistic equivalent of a habitat generalist, dabbling in many different media and interests! Frances graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelors of Science in Zoology and a minor in Painting. She offers freelance services as an avenue to combine her love of wildlife conservation & art.
Lin flores
Lin Flores (they/she) lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah as a full-time poet and creative writing student. They are an MFA candidate in Poetry at the University of New Orleans and a reader for the Bayou Magazine. Her debut poetry collection, Reflections While Living in Utah, was a bestseller for both 2021 & 2022 at Under The Umbrella—Utah’s LGBTQ+ bookstore. In 2023, Lin won the Andrea Saunders Gereighty / Academy of American Poets Award. In 2024, Lin became a poetry fellow with Roots. Wounds. Words. When Flores isn’t writing, she is volunteering her time with Plumas Colectiva, a collective of Latinx poets & artists. With their B.A. in Education, Lin teaches at The McGillis School.
laura ruiz
Laura Ruiz (she/her/ella) is a Mexican bilingual poet, translator, and interpreter. She is the mother of two beautiful Chicano boys. Her works have been published in Unmmute Magazine in San Francisco, the French editorial Short Edition, as well as Consecrate Desecrate: An Anthology to Save Our Great Salt Lake. She published her first book in Spanish in 2022: Inventario de mis Musas. In her free time, she likes to play guitar, bike, and run to help her mind create more universes and muses.
