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 introduces Santa Clara County to the incoming Youth Poet Laureate and 2026 finalists! Outgoing 2025-26 Youth Poet Laureate Kurn Sundaram and Vice YPL Layla Krishnan will also read a couple of poems and pass the baton. The new YPL will be announced on the SCC YPL Instagram.
Tonight's Poets
Kurn Sundaram is a performance poet based in Northern California and the 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.
Laya Krishnan is an incoming first-year student at Harvard University and Santa Clara County's 2025-26 Vice Youth Poet Laureate. Her poetry largely carries themes of inheritance, displacement, and belonging. As the daughter of Indian immigrants, she treats paradox as both subject and method, tracing joy and loss as twin strands of the immigrant experience. Laya's work has been recognized by the Kenyon Review and the Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose, and she has been published in International Policy Digest. Outside of writing poetry, you can find Layla in a museum or eating a jalapeño bagel.
Incoming YPL bios to come…
Here is a map of History Park. Click image to expand it in a new tab. There are three parking lot options.
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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.