Around 2014, poets and colleagues Rebecca Aronson and Erin Adair-Hodges began wishing there was another kind of literary event in town. Albuquerque has always been home to amazing slam and performance poetry teams, but what if you had young kids and going out late at night to a bar just wasn't your jam anymore? And if you had to get a sitter, wouldn't you want there to be a whole evening of kickass art to make it worthwhile? And so Erin and Rebecca, frustrated poets and moms of then-wee ones, birthed Bad Mouth.

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In 2016, we held our first event at The Tannex, run by Marya Erinn Jones. Since then, we've been hosted at the Tortuga Art Gallery and are now in our current home at q-Staff Theatre. We've hosted dozens of phenomenal writers and performers, both from New Mexico and those visiting the Land of Enchantment. In 2018, Erin abandoned Rebecca to move to the Midwest, and Rebecca kept the show running, including a fierce pivot to online events during the pandemic lockdown. Now, Bad Mouth is back--but you didn't think you could get rid of us, did you? After all--we're just getting started.