M.R. “Chibbi” Orduña is a Mexican-born, Texas-rasied poet, actor, editor, publisher, producer, community organizer, and spoken word artist. Having been performing poetry since 2006, they were the founder of Laredo BorderSlam, a founding member of Write About Now, Editor in Chief at Write About Publishing & The Mixtape Lit Mag, and the Director and co-host of the Words and Shit video podcast. He also works as the Director of Virtual Programming for Write About Now, the Director of Media Production for Write Art Out. They are the founder and CEO of Gem.In.Eyes Productions, a company started to offer multi-genre and multi-disciplinary services to artists of kinds to produce and distribute their work. 

 

He has 2 books of poetry; his latest OTRO/PATRIA, a journey through the intersections of identity, was released in the summer of 2019. He was also the co-editor of the anthology Contra: Texas Poets Speak Out (Flowersong Press, 2020), a collection of almost 70 poems responding to the political and social climate of the Trump administration. His work primarily deals with the exploration of identity and culture, his experiences as both Queer and Latino, and fighting for the validity of existence.

 

Chibbi has received a fellowships from Tin House and the city of San Antonio, was the recipient of the 2022 Arts and Letters Award from Friends of the San Antonio Public Library, and was a finalist for the 2021 Wax Nine Chapbook Competition and 2022 Robert Phillips Chapbook Competition, and has been featured in the Houston LGBTQIA magazine OutSmart, the 2017 Anthology Best Emerging Poets in Texas, the 2020 Latino Book Review Magazine, The Texas Review, The Acentos Review, Wax Wing, The Yalobusha Review, Defunkt, Voices de la Luna, The Journal of Latina Critical Feminism, Cosmonaut Avenue, Wax Nine, Honey Lit, Homology Lit, We Are Mitu, George Takei, SlamFind, Poetry Slam Inc, Button Poetry, and Write About Now.

 

As an organizer he was worked with non-profits, theatrical companies, community organizers, Poet Lauretes, and others to produce events of all scales and sizes. His approach is meticulous and compassionate. Their vision is clear, thorough, and collaborative, working with and for community to produce experiences that impact and reverberate. 

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They have traveled the country performing their spoken word set, is a two-time San Antonio Poetry Grand Slam Champion, and coached and performed with the 2017 PuroSlam team and the 2022 Write About Now team, which won 3rd place at the National Poetry Slam Group Piece Competition and 2nd place at the Souther Fried Poetry Slam, respectively. On stage and page, he is an unforgettable experience.