Well-RED Reading Series featuring readings from contributors to Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War

Co-sponsored by Works/San José art and performance center!
38 South Second Street, downtown San José.
Featured guests include: Sean Mclain Brown, Teresa Mei Chuc, Anne Coray, Lucille Lang Day, and J.C. Todd!

If you are unable to attend in person, we welcome you to join via Zoom! Register in advance for this event via Zoom.
Link: https://bit.ly/Well-RED_October2026

Downtown SJ provides free parking on the street after 6:00 p.m. Available street parking is difficult to find after 6:30 p.m.
If you are unable to find parking on the street, there are two parking garages of note:
1.) 25 S. 3rd Street PARKSJ Garage (located underground, under The Globe Apartments), about 300 meters from Works/San Jose;
2.) 2nd & San Carlos PARKSJ Garage (first 90 minutes are free). This is a 5-10 minute walk to Works/San Jose.

***
Sean Mclain Brown is a combat disabled Marine Corps veteran and writer based in Santa Clara, California. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, New American Writing, Terrain.org, the San Francisco Chronicle, Fourteen Hills, among others, and in anthologies including Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace, An Introduction to the Prose Poem, and Convergence: Poetry on the Environmental Impacts of War. His book A Field Guide to Disappeared Things is forthcoming from Ink & Ribbon Press in Spring 2027. He is also the winner of the 2026 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Contest (Hudson Valley Writers Center), forthcoming Spring 2027, and was a finalist for the Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Prize.

***
Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam shortly after the Việt Nam War and grew up in Pasadena and Altadena, California on unceded Tongva Territory. Altadena Poet Laureate (2018 to 2020) and a Pasadena Rose Poet since 2016, Teresa Mei Chuc is the author of three books of poetry, Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014) and Red Thread (Fithian Press, 2012). Her recent poetry chapbook, Incidental Takes, was published by Hummingbird Press in 2023. She is co-editor of the anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2026). Teresa has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Goddard College. She is a public high school English teacher and has taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for over twenty years.

***
Anne Coray is the author of three full-length poetry collections: A Measure’s Hush (Boreal/Red Hen, 2011), Violet Transparent (Future Cycle Press, 2010), and Bone Strings (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2005), as well as a chapbook on climate change, Late Fall Bucolics (The Poetry Box, 2022). Her debut novel is Lost Mountain (West Margin Press, 2021). She is co-editor of the anthologies Crosscurrents North: Alaskans on the Environment (University of Alaska Press, 2008) and Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2026). She co-authored the nonfiction book Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (Alaska Geographic, 2009). Her work has appeared in many literary magazines including the Southern Review, Northwest Review, Green Mountains Review, Poetry, North American Review, and AQR. The recipient of grants and a fellowship from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and an Individual Artist Project Award and fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation, she divides her time between the coastal town of Homer and her birthplace on remote Lake Clark in southwest Alaska.

***
Lucille Lang Day is the author of The Cosmos and Me: New and Selected Poems (Trio House, 2026), as well as seven previous full-length poetry collections and four chapbooks. She has also edited the anthology Poetry and Science: Writing Our Way to Discovery, coedited Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California and Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California, and published two children’s books and a memoir. Her work appears in more than 200 magazines and anthologies, such as The Cincinnati Review, The Hudson Review, River Styx, The Threepenny Review, Scientific American, ZYZZYVA, and Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology. Her many honors include the Blue Light Poetry Prize, two PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Awards, the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and eleven Pushcart Prize nominations. Founder and publisher of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books, she lives in Oakland, California. https://lucillelangday.com

***
J. C. TODD, co-editor of Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War, is author of three books of poetry, most recently the bilingual (English-Lithuanian) new and selected, What Kept Me Awake?/Kas neleido uzmitgti? (PDR Press, 2024), and Beyond Repair, on the traumatic effects of war on civilian and combatant woman, the runner up for the 2019 Able Muse Press Poetry Book Award. She also has published three chapbooks, most recently The Damages of Morning (Moonstone Books, 2018). Her poems have appeared widely, including in The Paris Review, Pedestal, Prairie Schooner, and Virginia Quarterly Review. She has received fellowships from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Leeway Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and artist residency programs, including The Hambidge Center, Ragdale, Ucross, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and its international program at Schloss Wiepersdorf. Awards include the 2016 Rita Dove Poetry Prize from the International Writing Center. She has taught in the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr College and the MFA Program at Rosemont College and received an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. She lives in Philadelphia, PA.

TO SUBMIT EVENT FEEDBACK, visit: https://bit.ly/4dBnxR2

Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.

Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.

Poetry Center San Jose presents The San Jose Poetry Slam Zoom Edition

Come join us for Poetry from the comfort of your own home
Room opens at 6:30p.m. Pacific time. (3 hours earlier than east coast time and 3 hours ahead of Hawaii.)

Register here through Ticket Tailor

Sign-up to slam: 6:30–7:00p.m. Slam starts at 7:00p.m.

This is a free event, hosted by Scorpiana Xlent. Donations are humbly accepted.

Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an olympic sport.

The rules are simple:

1. Poets must use their own poems.

2. Poet must use only one poem per round.

3. No musical accompaniment.

4. No props.

5. Time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Going over that will result in a time penalty.

6. Poets must have video on while performing or there will be a 3-point penalty deduction.

This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.

You can sign up to compete via the chat box in the zoom room.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.

Please remember to submit a quick audience survey to help us improve our logistics and content and report to our funders and sponsors. Here is the link to the survey: https://bit.ly/3M63VqH

Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving 

POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Featuring Kaecey McCormick!

Sunday, October 4, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom.

Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.

Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.

Kaecey McCormick is a poet and fiction writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work appears in literary journals such as Poet Lore, The Baltimore Review, The Pinch Journal, Clockhouse, On the Seawall, The Heartland Review, Poetry South, Jabberwock Review, Pedestal Magazine, and Sky Island Journal. She is the author of Sleeping with Demons (2023) and Pixelated Tears (2018), and served as Poet Laureate for the city of Cupertino, California. Her writing has received numerous honors, including the Connecticut Poetry Prize, the Dare to Dream Poetry Prize, and multiple awards in the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize, as well as nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has enjoyed support from the Community of Writers and the Good Hart Artist Residency. When she’s not writing or teaching, she spends her time hiking, painting, and reading.

POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Please note this change in date for this month:
Sunday, September 27, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom

Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.

Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.

Poetry Center San José's mission is to nurture and promote diverse literary expression in our community as a means of exploring, defining, and enriching the human experience. We offer programs and services to stimulate passion for the literary arts and to inspire and support emerging and established writers.

You're invited to a gathering for those looking for a supportive writing community that focuses on the social aspects of being a writer and a space to discuss any and all disciplines of writing. 

We welcome writers from all disciplines to hang out, work, then hang out some more.

This isn't a workshop, but a work time in a workspace with other writers.

This event is free and no registration necessary. Just show up with something to write.

We will meet at 11:30am for pastries, snacks, coffee and tea. Some will be provided, but more is welcome. If you do bring pastries, please only bring enough to share with one or two others.

Approximate Schedule

11:30am: Conversation over coffee and tea.

12:30: Quiet work. There are quite a few places to work quietly inside Markham House. Find your nook and write, or explore the books in our library upstairs, or continue your conversation outside, on the porch, or somewhere in History Park. We'll keep the coffee and kettle hot while you work.

2:45–3:15pm: Optional sharing and conversation. Writers are not expected to share what they’ve written, but if you’d like feedback, this would be the time for it.

Keep in mind, Markham House will be open to the public, so visitors will be coming in to peruse, but we will let them know that the house is infested with writers writing!

Admission: Free, but donations are welcome!

Parking: There is a parking strip on Phelan Avenue at the park gate. If there is no space available, there is a lot at the end of Phelan Ave.
Location: Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road veers left with the firehouse on the right, then follow the left turn. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There should be an OPEN flag out on the porch.

Here is a map of History Park’s parking options:

Public comment period will be available to begin the meeting, a chance for the public to share feedback on programming, suggestions, and constructive criticism to be considered by board members of PCSJ.

To join and participate in the public comment, please RSVP on Zoom here.

Between 6:30-6:35 is your time to notify that you wish to be heard. Provide your name in the chat to reserve your two minute time-slot.

Agenda and minutes will be provided.

Poetry Center San José presents San José Poetry Slam – Live In Person!

Come join us for poetry and some of the most delicious pizza in San José at our new venue in Willow Glen:

Wheelhouse of Willow Glen
1173 Lincoln Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125

Sunday, September 20, 2026
Doors open and the sign up list goes out at 6:30pm
The Poetry Slam starts at 7:00pm

Guest host: Brandon Luu!

Admission: $5–10 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Our Featured Poet

Jaz Sufi (she/hers) is a queer Iranian-American poet and arts educator. Her work has been published or is upcoming in Best New Poets, Best of the Net, AGNI, Black Warrior Review, Muzzle, and elsewhere. She is a National Poetry Slam finalist and has received fellowships from Kundiman, the Watering Hole, and New York University, where she received her MFA. She is the current Poet Laureate of San Ramon, CA, where she lives with her dog, Apollo.

jazsufi.com

Poetry Slam Competition Info

Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an olympic sport. The rules are simple:

1.) Poets must use their own poems.
2.) poet must use only one poem per round.
3.) no musical accompaniment.
4.) no props.
5.) there is a time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. going over that will result in a time penalty.

This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

Please remember to submit a quick audience survey to help us improve our logistics and content and report to our funders and sponsors. Here is the link to the survey: https://bit.ly/3M63VqH

Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving.

Poets@Play is a monthly creative writing workshop hosted by Robert Pesich, Brandon Luu and former Santa Clara County Poet Laureate David Perez. Each session features a different guest facilitator leading hands-on exercises to inspire creativity and new ideas.

Our Facilitator

Lorenz Mazon Dumuk (siya/they/he) is a poet and spoken word artist from San Jose, California. Siya is the author of the book, Held (Sampaguita Press), as well as the author to two self published chapbooks, Ay Nako: Writing Through the Struggle, and I Think In Poetry. Lorenz is a VONA alumni, and a MALI (Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute) alumni, which is a Silicon Valley based program that focuses on developing leaders of color in the arts, culture, and entertainment sectors. Siya is one of the curators for, Glowing with the Moon, an open mic and interactive community space in San Jose. Lorenz writes with, against, and through the contradictions siya encounters, which allows siya to explore the different silences in niya life through niya poetry. Lorenz's spoken word performances are painfully heartfelt as well as magnificently healing. An awkwardly adorable poet who can be caught doing hip-circles before a poetry reading.

Workshop Description

"Revoking your poetic license while trying to metaphor."

Come journey with Lorenz Mazon Dumuk as we explore the images that color our lives and bring movement to them as we implement them into our writing. Re-imagine what was once abstract and workshop it into a concrete entity in your writing.

We might not be able to write immediately that day the poem we been itching to get to, but we very well might develop tools that will brave us to get closer to writing it.

Paper and pens are available. The park’s internet connection is unreliable.

No RSVP required. Just show up at 1:00pm

Admission: Free (donations welcome)

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park
635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road dead ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.

Come celebrate and support the poetry community as we celebrate you for supporting Poetry Center San José!

Various readings will take place honoring the poetry of Alan Soldofsky, GusTavo Adolfo Guerra Vasquez, and Floi Baker, who have recently passed. An open mmic will follow.

Upstairs in the Firehouse, History Park from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

PCSJ will provide food and drink. Potluck also welcome! 

Bring a favorite dish or beverage. Let us know you are bringing a dish by emailing programming@pcsj.org!

📍Location: Firehouse @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.

Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.

Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.

Bauchhaar invites your poems and flash fiction in English and/or Hindi, inspired by and reflecting Poppy Charnalia's painting, "Khidki/Window/Ventana/Vatayan". Please email your work to bauchhaar@gmail.com by September 8th, 2026. Unlock those windows, and let the rain in...

Join us on September 13th, 2026, for a wholesome poetic experience.

POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Please note this change in date for this month:
Sunday, September 13, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom

Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.

Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.

Poetry Center San José's mission is to nurture and promote diverse literary expression in our community as a means of exploring, defining, and enriching the human experience. We offer programs and services to stimulate passion for the literary arts and to inspire and support emerging and established writers.

Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.

Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.

Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.

Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.

Public comment period will be available to begin the meeting, a chance for the public to share feedback on programming, suggestions, and constructive criticism to be considered by board members of PCSJ.

To join and participate in the public comment, please RSVP on Zoom here.

Between 6:30-6:35 is your time to notify that you wish to be heard. Provide your name in the chat to reserve your two minute time-slot.

Agenda and minutes will be provided.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival concludes!

This is the closing event of the 2026 festival! Today’s small press fair and reading take place inside History Park, under the oak tree in front of Markham House.

Our Poets

Scorpiana Xlent is a Bronx raised poet, spoken word artist, and armchair activist who now makes San José her home and considers herself equal parts New Yorker and Northern Californian. A member of The San José Poetry Slam’s 2014 slam team competing in Nationals, she has also featured at venues in New York, Florida, and California. Scorpiana's poems have been published in two anthologies: Fruition and The Bandana Republic. She also has her own book Inked. In addition to writing and performing she has taught youth poetry workshops in San José. Scorpiana Xlent is currently the Slam Coordinator for the San José Slam, and a member of the PCSJ Board of Directors. She likes bacon and chocolate, but not together, and has learned to accept her caffeine addiction.

Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour is a Filipino/French Creole Spoken Word Poet and Hip-Hop Artist from the Midwest now living in Santa Cruz. You can find him most weekends at Sacred Mud Henna and Tattoo Studio at The Tannery Arts Center offering workshops, coaching and henna & jagua hand art by Appointment.

In Partnership with Rica Smith De La Luz, @sacredpoets, he hopes to inspire a creative message of peace and empowerment. A part of Mic Drop!, the monthly open mic at 418 Project, and a member of Writers of Color Santa Cruz County, he works to contribute to a strong community of Artists and Supporters locally and globally. Currently, he is developing a grant project in collaboration with CityArts and Arts Council Santa Cruz County called Poets on the Path - in efforts to revitalize our San Lorenzo Riverwalk.

Brian Sonia-Wallace is the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. They are a poet, educator, and public artist whose work explores the line between the intimate and the monumental, reimagining public space as a site of memory, care, and dialogue. Over the past decade and a half, he has written poems on-the-spot in public for over 10,000 strangers and their communities, a practice that has unfolded into books including The Poetry of Strangers (HarperCollins) and Maze Mouth (Moon Tide Press), as well as performances and public projects across theaters, galleries, and everyday city spaces. A City of LA Master Artist and former Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, Sonia-Wallace has served as Poet-in-Residence for places as varied as the National Parks, Amtrak, and the Mall of America (yes, really). His work centers on creating art that bridges civic space, public memory, and lived experience, often collaborating with LGBTQ+ communities, youth, and elders to amplify voices that are rarely heard. A Fellow of the Academy of American Poets and LA County, his writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, LitHub, Rattle, and American Poets, and has been performed from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Kennedy Center. He teaches at UCLA Extension, facilitates the APLA Health Writers’ Group, and leads school outreach for Get Lit – Words Ignite. More @rentpoet.

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

This is Day Four of our four-day festival! Check out the complete list of events that are part of the 2026 San José Poetry Festival!

Admission is free to the public.

Come tour our headquarters at Markham House in the serene comfort of History Park. Peruse the books and wears by publishers from around California, listen to the poetry open mic, and stick around for a Poets of Poetry Slam performance at the end of the fair!

If you’d like to read a poem in the open mic, be sure to sign up in person.

Small Presses & Publishers Tabling:

• ASHA

• Cæsura

• Héctor Castañeda

• El Martillo Press

• Abraham Garcia

• Anshu Johri

• La Raíz Magazine

• Maíz Poppin’ Press

• Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo

• Mumblers Press

• Nahuí Ollín

• Rawmeash

• REED Magazine

• Sampaguita Press

• Swan Scythe Press

• Thinking Ink Press

• Tourane Poetry Press

• Yuki Teikei Haiku Society

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

Join us in front of Markham House inside History Park for readings by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, Brandon Luu and Solange Aguilar.

Free admission.

Our Featured Poets

Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate. He is the author of four books of poems: In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected Poems (Gunpowder Press, September 2024); Scar and Flower, finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award; Gardening Secrets of the Dead; and This Many Miles from Desire.

He is co-editor of The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit (Orison Books 2020) and Afterlives: An AGNI Portfolio of Asian Adoptee Diaspora Writing. His poems appear widely, in The Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed, Naming the Lost: The Fresno Poets; Poetry Goes to the Movies; Indivisible: Poems of Social Justice with a foreword by Common, HERE: Poems for the Planet, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy, among others. Herrick serves on the advisory board of Terrain.org and Sixteen Rivers Press. He co-founded LitHop in Fresno. He has taught in Qingdao, China; at Kundiman in New York City, and for twelve years in the low-residency MFA program at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.He was born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted as an infant. He lives with his family in Fresno, California and served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. He teaches at Fresno City College. He is the 10th California Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role. In April 2025, he became the first California Poet Laureate to be officially reappointed to a second two-year term.

Solange Aguilar (They/Ze) is an award-winning queer Mescalero Apache, Yo'eme, and Filipinx (Kapampángan) multimedia artist, poet, zinemaker, and author of Red Like Earth. They are a 2025 Jack McCarthy Book Prize winner with Write Bloody Publishing, a co-winner of the Corazón de Oro from Raíces for their work on the Mispu Story Signs at Santa Barbara City College, and a first place winner in the Santa Barbara Poetry Slam. They're also a recipient of The Pachamama Skillshare and Women's Creative Collective for Change artist scholarship and a 2021 fellow from the Artist2Artist program by the Art Matters Foundation. Their work has been featured in News from Native California, Earth First! Journal, at The Getty, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, and in Harvard Library's zine collection.

Brandon Luu is a poet from San Jose, California. He received his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Jose State University, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of Poetry Center San Jose. He also served as a 2022 Creative Ambassador for the City of San Jose. For him, poetry is an opportunity to bring people together, regardless of age or circumstance. "Through language, we attempt to make sense of the human condition, and from there, we begin to understand each other."

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

This is Day Three of our four-day festival! This free creative poetry workshop will be facilitated by local poet Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo as a part of the 2026 San Jose Poetry Festival!

To be held upstairs in the Firehouse at History Park. Elevator accessible.

Free, but seats are limited. Reserve yours here.

2026 San José Poetry Festival

poetry workshop

Palabras & Poetry:  Zapatista Principles

by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo in partership with La Raíz Magazine

Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles is a bilingual generative poetry workshop inspired by the seven principles of the Zapatistas of the EZLN, Indigenous peoples of Chiapas, México. 7 Principles: 1. To Obey, Not Command, 2. To Propose, Not Impose, 3. To Represent, Not Supplant, 4. To Convince, Not Conquer, 5. To Construct, Not Destroy, 6. To Serve Others, Not Serve Oneself, 7. To Work From Below, Not Seek To Rise. 

This is an interactive workshop with sample poetry, prompts, verse starters, and sample verses. Everyone will be welcome to share their poetry aloud with the group and comment. The workshop is open to writers of all ages with any level of experience and is a continuation of the theme, with new content.

Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles es un taller de poesía generativo, inspirado por los siete principios de los Zapatistas del EZLN, gente indígena de Chiapas, México. Los siete principios: 1) Obedecer y No Mandar; 2) Proponer y No Imponer; 3) Representar y No Suplantar; 4) Convencer y No Vencer; 5) Construir y No Destruir; 6) Servir y No Servirse; 7) Bajar y No Subir. Se guiará a los participantes a escribir poesía en un taller interactivo con tres segmentos de poesía de ejemplo, entrada, versos para completar, y versos de ejemplo. Todos seran bienvenidos a compartir su poesía con el grupo y ofrecer comentarios. El taller es para escritores de todas edades y cualquier nivel de experiencia.

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo is a poet, visual artist, and education facilitator whose work is informed by her Indigenous ancestry, Mesoamerican philosophy, Mexika & Mixtec art, Mexican culture, Raza history, and her experiences as a Chicana. Her poetry is published widely in journals and anthologies, while her paintings have been featured in over seventy exhibitions across the country. Editorial Xingao published her book, Breathe Liberación. She earned a BFA in Pictorial Art and a BA in French from San José State University, served as Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs, and was selected as Creative Corps Initiative grantee by California Arts Council and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She serves as a Board Member of Poetry Center San José and is the Founder of La Raíz Magazine. www.ejmontelongo.com/poetry

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo es poeta, artista plástica y facilitadora. Fué nombrada embajadora creativa de la oficina de asuntos culturales de San José, y tambien seleccionada para el programa del concilio de arte de California y YBCA, Creative Corps Initiative. Ella há facilitado talleres de poesía para universidades y organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Elizabeth recibió licenciaturas en arte y frances de la universidad estatal de San José. Es miembra de la mesa directiva de Poetry Center San José y editora y directora de La Raíz Magazine, una publicación bilingüe. www.ejmontelongo.com/poetry

Instagram: @elizabethjimenezmontelongo Facebook: @ejmontelongo 

Partnership

La Raíz Magazine provides culturally-relevant, generative arts engagement experiences and opportunities for the publication and public presentation of creative work, with an emphasis on promoting the expression of people of color, women of color, women & girls, and people whose ancestry is rooted in this continent, Indigenous peoples, Raza, Chicanos, and people from areas that are now Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. www.laraizmagazine.com

La Raíz Magazine provee oportunidades para participar en el arte de manera cultural y generativa, también abriendo paso para la publicación y presentación pública de obras creativas, con el enfoque en apoyar la expresión de gente de varias culturas, mujeres y niñas, particularmente personas con herencia en este continente, gente indígena, Raza, Chicana, y de areas que ahora son México, Centro América, el Caribe, y Sur América, de alguna parte del continente Américano. www.laraizmagazine.com

Instagram: @laraizmagazine Facebook: @laraizmag

#palabrasandpoetry #pcsj #laraizmagazine #poetryworkshop #multilingualpoetry #spanglishpoetry #ezln #zapatista principles#chicanapoet #chicanopoetry #laculturacura

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

This is the third of four days of the 2026 festival! Today’s reading will take place inside the Renzel Room at History Park. This event is free to the public.

The Poets of Resistance reading features poets Jen Siraganian, Deema Shehabi, Farnaz Fatemi and Nathalie Khankan.

Our Poets

Jen Siraganian is an Armenian-American writer, educator, and former Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, California. Her debut book, Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead, which won the 2026 Perugia Press Prize and will be released in September 2026, was a finalist for the Tupelo Press Dorset Prize and The Journal’s Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize, as well as a semi-finalist for Persea Books’ Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, and Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. Her poems have won the New Ohio Review Poetry Prize and have appeared in AGNI, Best New Poets 2015 and 2025, Electric Literature, Poetry Daily, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus. A former managing director of Litquake: San Francisco’s Literary Festival, she has received funding from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund and is a current Lucas Artist Fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center. 

Deema K. Shehabi is a Palestinian-American poet and editor. Deema is the author of Thirteen Departures from the Moon and co-editor with Beau Beausoleil of Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, for which she received a Northern California Book Award. She’s also co-author of Water to Water with Marilyn Hacker and winner of the Nazim Hikmet poetry competition in 2018. Deema’s work has appeared in poets.org, Los Angeles Review of Books, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and in the anthologies Heaven Looks like Us and Ask the Night for a Dream. 

Farnaz Fatemi, an Iranian American poet from Santa Cruz, CA, is the author of Sister Tongue زبان خواهر  (Kent State University Press), selected by Tracy K. Smith, which won the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, and received a Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly. Farnaz is a former Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate and founding member of The Hive Poetry Collective, which presents a weekly radio show and podcast in Santa Cruz County and hosts readings and poetry-related events. She is also an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow and California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow. Farnaz’s poems and essays appear in Kenyon Review, RHINO Poetry, Alaska Quarterly Review, No Tokens Journal, Poets.org, Tupelo Quarterly, Terrain.org and elsewhere. More at www.farnazfatemi.com

Nathalie Khankan is a Copenhagen-born writer of Finnish and Syrian descent. She is the author of Quiet Orient Riot, recipient of the 2021 California Book Award in Poetry. Her background includes serving as the founding director of The Danish House in Palestine and teaching Arabic Language and Literature at UC Berkeley. She resides in San Francisco and is currently pursuing a degree in Somatic Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 2026 San José Poetry Festival continues!

This 12th annual festival event is free to the public. It will take place under the oak tree in front of Markham House inside History Park.

2026-27 SCC YOUTH POET LAUREATE COMMENCEMENT

Our third night of poetry will introduce Santa Clara County to the incoming 2026-27 Youth Poet Laureate Sierra Elman and the 2026-27 Vice Youth Poet Laureate Rohan Mahapatra! Outgoing 2025-26 Youth Poet Laureate Kurn Sundaram will read a couple of poems and pass the baton.

Program Update: Please note that Laya Krishnan is unfortunately unable to appear. This event will feature Kurn Sundaram and some of this year’s incoming Youth Poet Laureate finalists as scheduled.

Tonight's Poets

Kurn Sundaram is a performance poet based in Northern California and the 2025-26 Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate. He is the editor-in-chief of JADE&COMPASS, a literary magazine that advocates for marginalized voices across the globe. A YoungArts Winner with Distinction and a Scholastic National Gold Medal Portfolio Scholarship recipient, he is also an incoming freshman at Stanford University.

The new 2026-27 SCC Youth Poet Laureate is Sierra Elman.

Sierra Elman is a poet from the San Francisco Bay Area and the 2024–2025 Burlingame-Hillsborough Youth Poet Laureate. She has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, The Adroit Journal, Bow Seat Ocean Awareness, DePaul’s Blue Book: Best American High School Writing, and many more. An alumna of The Adroit Journal's Summer Mentorship Program and the Kenyon Review’s Young Writers Workshop, she is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of international youth literary magazine Marmalade Lit. Outside of writing, she can be found playing the guitar or trying to get her dog to come when called.

The new SCC Vice Youth Poet Laureate is Rohan Mahapatra.

Rohan Mahapatra is a student poet and musician from Santa Clara County. Years of studying the percussion instrument, the tabla, have shaped his attention to rhythm and cadence, while his background in choir and musical theater informs the performative voice of his poetry. Beyond writing, he volunteers through music therapy programs serving autistic children, experiences that continue to deepen his understanding of communication, patience, and artistic connection.

Rohan’s work often explores impermanence, family, and the ubiquity of loss. He is a two-time Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national silver medalist and was selected for the 2026 Adroit Writing Mentorship Program. His poetry is forthcoming in the 1455 Young Poets Anthology and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ 2026 Youth Poetry Book. He has also received recognition from the Literacy in Place Rural Teen Writing Awards.

He developed his poetic foundations through the University of Massachusetts’ Juniper Institute for Young Writers and the University of the South’s Sewanee Young Writers’ Winter Conference. As a poetry editor for Eucalyptus Lit and a reporter in his school’s journalism program, he is continually interested in how language can preserve memory, foster empathy, and strengthen community.

Photos to come…

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

This is Day Three of our four-day festival! This free Zoom event will feature Lem “Saint” Gonsalves, Alyesha Wise, Rico Frederick & Ainsley Burrows as a part of the 2026 San Jose Poetry Festival! Presented and hosted by Tshaka Campbell.

RSVP for the Zoom link here

Our Guests

Lem “Saint” Gonsalves first began his poetic journey reciting poems at his father’s church. Since then, he has performed internationally and has released 2 albums, a chapbook, and a DVD documentary entitled "Rise To the Ill-List: Poetic Journey of The Saint". His style infuses humor, passion, and ideals which inspire as well as entertain. He has opened for hip-hop artists Common, Talib Kweli and Lupe Fiasco as well as gospel sensation Kirk Franklin and has shared the stage with R&B legends Bel Biv Devoe and Faith Evans. He has even performed for the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana. He was selected to be on Season 3 and Season 5 of the NAACP Image Award nominated show "Verses and Flow" as a performance poet.

As a competitor, he has represented numerous poetry slam teams over the years at the National Poetry Slam competition and has won many championship titles as a solo performer. One of his greatest joys is conducting poetry workshops with students all over the state of California. This has allowed him to impart knowledge and skills that he has learned in his almost 30 year career and show how writing can be a vehicle for change and deal with personal challenges that can affect mental wellness, among other things.

In addition to performing spoken word poetry, he has worked as an accomplished host in Los Angeles partnering with television networks such as VH1, FOX and MTV and online network Afterbuzz TV. In 2020, he created the podcast “Colors of Fatherhood” in which he interviewed fathers of color seeking to highlight their stories of trial and triumph. He can also be seen in commercials appearing in spots for FanDuel and Apple, to name a few.

Alyesha Wise is an award-winning poet, educator and speaker from Camden, N.J. Currently a resident of Los Angeles, she is the Director of Programming for Street Poets, Inc., an organization mostly serving injustice-impacted youth with mentorship and arts programming. A recipient of a 2025 Los Angeles Preservation Award, Alyesha has been featured on platforms and in publications such as OWN TV, BET, LA Times, Bustle, Afropunk, PBS, Buzzfeed and more. Other collabs include the ACLU, The Shabazz Center, The Nantucket Project, Brave New Films and the Google Interstellar Project. Ron Howard once wrote about Alyesha's work, "Very Powerful." My Older Brother, A Famous Rapper, is Alyesha’s latest book of poetry, released in fall 2025 by El Martillo Press.

Rico Frederick

Creative Director / Sr. Designer / Writer / Educator.

An Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University-Newark, and the author of the book Broken Calypsonian (Penmanship Books, 2014). He holds an MFA in Writing from Pratt Institute, is a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Finalist, Fulbright semi-finalist, Cave Canem Fellow, Poets House Emerging Poets Fellow, Pushcart nominee, and the first poet to represent all four original New York City poetry venues at the National Poetry Slam. Rico is a Trinidadian transplant, that scribbles poems on the back of maps in the hope they take him someplace new.

Ainsley Burrows

Ainsley Burrows is a Jamaican-born writer, poet, and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans poetry, fiction, visual art, music, and performance. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and based in Baltimore, Maryland, Burrows has spent more than three decades developing a literary practice that explores identity, migration, history, intimacy, and the evolving possibilities of human connection. He is the author of two novels—Bang Bang Bang: A Summer of Sin in Brooklyn and Sex Addiction—alongside numerous acclaimed poetry collections, including Black Angels With Sky Blue Feathers, The Woman Who Isn't Was, The Wolf Who Cried Boy, and The Spellcaster's Manual. His writing is distinguished by its lyrical precision, philosophical depth, and its ability to move fluidly between the personal and the political.

Burrows first gained international recognition as an award-winning performance poet, winning the 2001 International Poetry Slam Championship in Munich and twice being named Best International Performer at London's Farrago Poetry Café. He has appeared on BET's Lyric Café and TV One's Verses & Flow, lectured at The Juilliard School, and coached the renowned Nuyorican Poets Café National Slam Team. Today, his literary work continues to evolve alongside his visual art practice, with each discipline informing the other through a shared commitment to imagination, emotional honesty, and the belief that art can help us envision new ways of seeing ourselves and one another.

Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Emeritus Tshaka Campbell has authored four books of poetry and is an internationally recognized artist and performer. He has won grand slam championships in a number of cities across the US. He will publish his next poetry collection, Blood at the Root, with @elmartillopress He currently resides in San José and continues to ask the world to listen different.

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

Join us in the Renzel Room inside History Park for an in-depth writing workshop with California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick. Pens and paper can be provided.

Tickets now on sale. Reserve your seat here.

I've Been Here and Never Been Here: Writing Poems About Place and Displacement

How can our poems be rooted but also rootless so that they are grounded but also free? This workshop will explore strategies for writing poems that they are located in a place: a room, a city, someone's arms. From there, we will explore strategies for moving beyond the place into a sense of displacement or wonder. Bring your ideas for a poem about a place or a difficult or important experience or memory. To write creatively is transform an experience. It can be liberating. We will write a poem, have time to share, and leave with strategies and ideas to write more. 

Folks can bring paper or a laptop or tablet. Ages 14+ welcome.

Our Workshop Facilitator

Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate. He is the author of four books of poems: In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected Poems (Gunpowder Press, September 2024); Scar and Flower, finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award; Gardening Secrets of the Dead; and This Many Miles from Desire.

He is co-editor of The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit (Orison Books 2020) and Afterlives: An AGNI Portfolio of Asian Adoptee Diaspora Writing. His poems appear widely, in The Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed, Naming the Lost: The Fresno Poets; Poetry Goes to the Movies; Indivisible: Poems of Social Justice with a foreword by Common, HERE: Poems for the Planet, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy, among others. Herrick serves on the advisory board of Terrain.org and Sixteen Rivers Press. He co-founded LitHop in Fresno. He has taught in Qingdao, China; at Kundiman in New York City, and for twelve years in the low-residency MFA program at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.He was born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted as an infant. He lives with his family in Fresno, California and served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. He teaches at Fresno City College. He is the 10th California Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role. In April 2025, he became the first California Poet Laureate to be officially reappointed to a second two-year term.

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

This is Day Two of our four-day festival! This free Zoom event will feature Arnoldo Colibrí and Esperanza Cabrales and an open mic hosted by local poet Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo as a part of the 2026 San Jose Poetry Festival!

RSVP for the Zoom link here

¡Cultura Poetry Night!

Friday, August 21, 2026

6:30-8:30pm Pacific Time via Zoom

¡Cultura Poetry Night! celebrates the culture of people who identify as Raza, Chicana/o, Indigenous, or from their country of origin, whose heritage is rooted in areas that are now Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. A multilingual event with two featured poets, guest poets, and open mic! Everyone is welcome to participate in this inclusive event presented by Poetry Center San José, hosted by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, in partnership with La Raíz Magazine.

About the Featured Poets

Esperanza Cabrales (they/them) is a queer Xicana slam poet, performer, jewelry maker, teaching artist, and educator based in Oakland.  They lead poetry workshops through Bay Area Creative, working with TK through high school students. Esperanza organizes the Nepantla exploratory workshop series for QTBIPOC Creatives + Allies. Their work celebrates shared spaces, approaching emotions with curiosity, and the beauty of queer and cultural identities. IG: @nepantlainoakland @dreaming.eyeswideopen

arnoldo colibrí is a culture maker, artist, and writer living in Oakland. s a community-based poet, musician, visual artist, human rights organizer and a dedicated restorative justice practitioner/trainer. He has migrant roots that stretch from south Texas to the Pacific Northwest and is based in Oakland, CA (San Francisco Bay Area.) He is the editor and publisher of poetry and chapbooks such as, Poets against War & Racism / Poetas contra la guerra y el racism, and is the founder of Editorial Xingao. He runs the blog Art of the Commune. Website: www.arnoldogarcia.org // La Comuna: artofthecommune.wordpress.com // IG: @nepantlacomuna

OPEN MIC:

Day-of sign ups are available at the beginning of the event and just before Open Mic.

*****

Presented by: Poetry Center San José pcsj.org @poetrycentersanjose

Host: Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo

IG: @elizabethjimenezmontelongo / FB: @ejmontelongo

Community Partner: La Raíz Magazine http://laraizmagazine.com

IG: @laraizmagazine / FB: @laraizmag

#palabrasandpoetry #pcsj #laraizmagazine #poetryworkshop #multilingualpoetry #spanglishpoetry #ezln #zapatista principles#chicanapoet #chicanopoetry #laculturacura

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!

This is Day Two of our four-day festival! In partnership with Willow Glen Branch Library, this free creative poetry workshop for youth will be facilitated by local poet Mighty Mike McGee as a part of the 2026 San Jose Poetry Festival!

Free. No registration required.

Mighty Mike McGee is a well-traveled poet and humorist from San José, California. He is the first and only spoken word performer to win both the 2003 National Poetry Slam Grand Championship and the 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam Grand championship. McGee is a co-founder of the live spoken word groups Tons of Fun University (TOFU) with Shane Koyczan and C.R. Avery. He also co-founded The Whirlwind Company with Mindy Nettifee, Brian S. Ellis, and Jon Sands, and the Poetry Revivals with Dan Leamen, Derrick Brown, Buddy Wakefield and Anis Mojgani. McGee was appointed Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) for 2018 & 2019 and serves on the Poetry Center San José Board of Directors where he has directed the San José Poetry Festival since 2021. His first collection of humor and poetry, In Search of Midnight, is available through Write Bloody Publishing.

Join us every Friday at the Willow Glen Branch Library for a fun activity for kids. Activities may include arts & crafts, special performances or workshops, and board or video games.

Note: 2nd Friday of every month is free play with Legos®!

All supplies will be provided.

ADA Accommodation Requests

Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.

The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.

San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.

Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.

Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.

📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.

Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)

Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.