The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival opens with bang—some spoken word competition and a headlining set from legendary performance poet Reggie Edmonds-Vasquez!
This is Day One of our four-day festival! Check out the complete list of events that are part of the 2026 San José Poetry Festival! Our festival pass will get you into all live events and online events.
More details and ticket info to come.
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, August 16, 2026
Doors open and the sign up list goes out at 6:30pm
The Poetry Slam starts at 7:00pm
Hosted by Scorpiana Xlent.
Our Featured Poet
Reggie Edmonds-Vásquez (they/them) is a poet, educator, and cultural curator from Richmond, CA. Their work explores Black, queer, and gender-diverse identities and has earned recognition from Nomadic Press, Afro Urban Society, and the Museum of the African Diaspora. A two-time Berkeley Grand Champion and national finalist, they direct programming at Rich Oak Events.
Find them on IG: @reggiepoetry
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.
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: Link to come
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.