Julio Montalvo Valentin

Julio Montalvo Valentin is a philosopher and lover of rice and poetry. They/his/Julio is a teaching artist, poet, freelance writer, and arts facilitator. In pursuit of community and home, Julio began by collaborating with others to co-find the late Cringe-Worthy Poets Collective and co-host the late Ground Sky Reading series at Rust Belt Books for several years.

Julio received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Writing and English literature from SUNY Buffalo State where he received two research fellowships, one for his second coast-to-coast poetry tour and another to study poetry curated on the Stonewall Nation Radio Program. They have also authored three poetry chapbooks, the latest being “Those Who Pray to Rice” (NightBallet Books, 2019). After many years of publishing chapbooks, Julio found his calling through teaching artistry after interacting with the arts community and the non-profit organizations such as Just Buffalo Literary Center. This has led to incredible collaborations and projects that the Buffalo Community continues to draw inspiration from.

These days, Julio is an adjunct professor, teaching artist, and uncle who makes time to serve an ever-changing community of socially-engaged writers through trauma-informed, re/generative workshops. Julio also serves as a member with the Latino/a/x arts collective called Los Artistas del Barrio Buffalo (LAdB), the Spark Filmmakers Collective Board, and the planning committee for the Lit Youngstown 2022 Literary Festival. Julio is currently a part of the TimeSlips: WNY Tele-Stories Project, where four local community-based artists facilitate and cultivate creativity with under-connected elders over the telephone. Julio is also returning as the Lead Poetry Teaching Artist for the Buffalo Public Schools after guiding students through “Woke Words” program into writing the Poetry Mural poem titled “Freedom” at Broderick Park. Aside from joining the inaugural Teaching Artist Mentorship Program with the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, you can always find Julio ready for the next writing opportunity to share their love of words through his next project, ProcessPoetry.com (coming soon).