Photo Credit: Arlene Mejorado
Karla Cordero is a descendant of the Chichimeca people from Northern Mexico, a Chicana poet, educator, and ARTtivist, raised along the borderlands of Calexico, CA. She is a three-time Pushcart nominee and offered fellowships from California Arts, VONA, Macondo, CantoMundo, The Loft Literary Center, Community of Writers and Pink Door Writing Retreat.
Karla teaches creative writing and composition at MiraCosta College and San Diego City College, receiving recognitions such as the San Diego State University Global Diversity Award and Associate Faculty of the Year for education and social justice.
Her commitment to bridging education and community is further practiced as founder of Voice 4 Change: a spoken word showcase, inviting nationally award winning writers to share their narratives of survival and celebration for diversity through performance and workshop facilitation.
Karla is the editor of SpitJournal an online literary review for poetry and social justice and the CFO and Social Justice Equity Coordinator for the non-profit Glassless Minds, an open mic venue in Oceanside, CA, serving historically underserved youth.
In addition, as a performing artist, Karla is the 2013 Grand Slam Champion, aiding the Elevated San Diego Slam Team to rank 4th in the nation at the National Poetry Slam Competition. She has been invited to perform for television networks such as NBC 7 San Diego Art Pulse, TBN Juice Live, and the Old Globe Theater.
Her poems have appeared in NPR, Academy of American Poets: Poem-a-day, O-Oprah Magazine, PANK, Bettering American Poetry, Latino Book Review, the Bernie Sanders 2020 Campaign Rally, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4. LatiNEXT Anthology, among other publications.
Karla is the author of the chapbook, Grasshoppers Before Gods (Dancing Girl Press 2016) and her first full length collection titled, How To Pull Apart The Earth (NOT A CULT.) is a 2019 San Diego Book Award winner and awarding-winning finalist for the 2019 International Latino Book Award and the International Book Award. You can follow her work @karlaflaka13