Meet the Lineup
Horizon Review and FUSION invite you to Well Read: A Horizon Review book market & reading night on the evening of October 14. We have invited twelve vendors to come and sell their wares and have wonderful readings lined up from current NM State Poet Laureate Manuel González and the Youth Poetry Team from NACA (Native American Community Academy). Come join us and hear some amazing writing, browse beautifully made local goods & grab a couple of new books to add to your (ever-growing, if you’re anything like us) TBR list.
Space is limited, so please RSVP if you plan to attend!
Readers
MANUEL GONZÁLEZ
Manuel González is a Xicano poet, educator, performer, and community organizer from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He serves as New Mexico State Poet Laureate (2025–2028) and is a 2026 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. A former Albuquerque Poet Laureate, he teaches creative writing, journalism, and speech at the Native American Community Academy and mentors its youth spoken-word poetry team. His books include Duende de Burque: Albuquerque Poems and Musings, Om Boy, and …But My Friends Call Me Burque. His work is rooted in New Mexico, Xicano memory, cultural responsibility, and creating spaces where people can speak in their own voices.
BOOKS (CLICK EACH BOOK TITLE FOR A LINK TO THE BOOK):
Duende de Burque: Alburquerque Poems and Musings
NACA SPOKEN WORD POETRY TEAM
The NACA Spoken Word Poetry Team brings together six Indigenous high school poets from the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque. Selected through the school’s September poetry slam, the students are developing original poems, individual performances, and collaborative work rooted in their own experiences, cultures, and communities. With guidance from poet and educator Manuel González, the team practices writing, revision, memorization, stage presence, and the responsibility of listening to and supporting one another. The work is about building strong writers, confident performers, and young leaders whose voices belong in public spaces.
What They’re Preparing For…
The team is working toward Brave New Voices 2027. Organized by Youth Speaks, Brave New Voices is an international youth poetry festival that brings young poets together for workshops, showcases, community learning, and spoken-word slam competitions. Our preparation centers on original individual and group poems, artistic growth, teamwork, and representing our school and communities. Click to learn more about the festival: Youth Speaks — Brave New Voices.
NACA youth poets and members of their poetry community at the September 9, 2026, school poetry slam in Albuquerque.
Vendors
Rica Maestas is a socially-engaged artist and storyteller from Albuquerque, NM. Affirming collaborative practice is a core tenant of their work, which often takes diverse directions including performances, paintings, sculptures, installations, writings, wearables, gifts, curriculum, and rituals. Regardless of form, their work tends to honor the layered features of their home landscape, holding space for both the magic and horror of mutuality.
Rica Maestas
Bladen Mercutio is a scientist by day, rock star by night, writer in between, and someone who enjoys running only in dreams. A graduate in atmospheric sciences, they chase fire and tell the future for a day job. In addition to their work with the Southwest Gothic series, Bladen has written and recorded several varieties of sonic entertainment, including an accompanying soundtrack to the novels.
Bladen Mercutio
Desert Dog Designs
Desert Dog Designs specializes in nature-inspired jewelry and gifts, often created using real pressed flowers and botanicals. The work is designed to remind their customers of a beloved scene from nature, such as an overgrown forest or Spring meadow.
Sophia Minetos
Sophia Minetos is a young adult weird-west (western fantasy) novelist from Albuquerque. I specialize in fantasy with unique elements and worlds. When I’m not writing, you can find me reading, watching musicals, knitting, or doing a jigsaw puzzle.
Emily Bharatiya
DrunkSkull Books
Hosho McCreesh of DrunkSkull Books writes, paints, and makes stuff in the caliche badlands of the American Southwest. He is the author of the novel, Chinese Gucci, the epic drunk-poetry collection, A Deep & Gorgeous Thirst, and Psalms From The Badlands, a 2025 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist in Poetry. His work has appeared widely in print, audio, and online and occasionally brings out the DrunkSkull Sidewalk Cinema.
New Mexico based artist specializing in collage that melds literature and visual art. Their work includes literature collage prints, handmade bookmarks, stickers, and greeting cards.
Sew Sean
Sean Paul Gallegos is a Albuquerque based artist/maker specializing in functional and wearable goods created from upcycled materials. Sewing and weaving are his methods of production. Sean Paul's sneaker sculpture (fine art series) is owned by the city of Albuquerque and in the permanent collection of the Albuquerque Museum.
CS Creates
Emily Bharatiya is a contemporary painter living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is currently obsessed with chairs, finding them to be an evocative metaphor for the human experience. Much of their inspiration comes from personal reflections, their interest in psychology, human relationships and a deep desire for self knowledge. Their hope is that their work allows viewers to experience a peaceful centered sense of self and a broader impression of connection through the universal shared experience of being human.
Dave Weirdly
Dave Weirdly is self published author of ASTRO-MONK a graphic novel and founder of Weirdly Comics, a comic book company of one, located in Albuquerque New Mexico. ASTRO-MONK is the first of a five book series, often compared to MAD magazine by those who have read it. Dave’s painting, Northern Eye, was published in Issue 1 of Horizon Review.
Cutesy Crafty
Cutesy Crafty is a local maker in Rio Rancho who finds peace and joy in their craft. She has been sketching since she was a young girl and loves creating unique, mixed-media pieces for others to enjoy.
Mariah Carrillo is a collage and mixed media artist creating handmade art, jewelry, and decorative goods from vintage ephemera and used books. Mariah’s work focuses on found materials and giving a second life to forgotten paper goods that have inspiring stories to tell. She is particularly interested in topics related to nature, local New Mexico ecosystems, and the relationships we build with the world around us.
Mariah Carrillo
Soft Corners Studio Center
Soft Corners is an art and book gallery, event venue, and third space. We showcase the work of local artists and authors, and their work makes our event space have stellar ambience for guests.
Sarah E. Azizi is the owner of Soft Corners Studio Center and was born in Shiraz, city of poets & roses, during the last hour of July in 1976. Her debut collection, Make a Wish, was published by ELJ-Editions in June 2025. Previous publications include Rattle, Fahmidan Journal, Honey Literary, & Free State Review; and most recently, SWANA Dykes, new anthology released by Sinister Wisdom. She lives in Albuquerque with her daughter & piles of unfinished work.
