BIO

ANNE MACNAUGHTON is a poet, artist, editor, teacher and writer based in northern New Mexico. She co-founded S.O.M.O.S. (somostaos.org), the Taos Poetry Circus (minorheron.org) and the Poetry Education Project, later creating spin off non-profits like the World Poetry Bout Association, the International Poetry Bout Association and Minor Heron. Her easygoing voice has been described as reminiscent of Mary Oliver's.

She teaches writing and performance around the Southwest and produces poetry shows through Lucid Performance. (lucidperformance.com.) 

Born in Arkansas during WWII and raised  in postwar boomtown Houston, MacNaughton served the State of Texas as archivist for historical manuscripts in the 1960s.

As a library school dropout from the University of Michigan in 1970 she moved to Libre —an artists' community in the Huerfano Valley of Colorado—where she started an alternative school and several nonprofit organizations. She also created and co-edited the art and literary broadside Wordworks.

Relocating to northern new Mexico over four decades ago, MacNaughton founded a one-room school in the remote mountain community of La Lama and taught in Indian Education programs at Taos Pueblo, in the public schools and a group foster home. She has taught poetry, language arts and history, government and economics in secondary schools, and public speaking, creative writing and publication at the University of New Mexico-Taos.

MacNaughton founded Taos High School's award-winning Poetry Slam Team —the first one in the nation for teenagers—and established the first State Championship Poetry Slam for secondary students. She continues to work with youth through workshops and mentorships.

She was a recipient of the New Mexico Literary Association's first Appreciation Award and of the Verse-Converse Festival's Eternal Flame Award for a Lifetime of Dedication to Poetry.