Paola Valenzuela is the Poetry Center’s Event Coordinator. She coordinates and facilitates the Reading & Lecture Series, Classes & Workshops, and many other initiatives, including everything from pre-event administrative details to day-of-event support. 

Paola is from the border towns Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in Creative Writing. She was a coordinating staff member of Spoken Futures, the grassroots literary organization behind the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam. In November of 2020, she published her first chapbook Cricket’s Lament: Poemas de Duelo e Inocencia. She was also one of two artists awarded the 2021 Sonoran Arts Residency in Ajo, Arizona.