Tiny Room Poetry Series | Special Edition | Presented by Listen Different and Poetry Center San José
Join us for an intimate evening of poetry, music and community! This special edition offers a rare chance to connect with poets and musicians up close, meet fellow lovers of the art, and experience a vibrant local space in a fresh new way.
With performances by legendary author and poetry slam champion Patricia Smith and local soul legends Noah and the Arkiteks.
Reserve your seat here! Choose a donation priced ticket or a free ticket—no one turned away for lack of funds. Any support you can offer helps us pay our guest performers.
There are a limited number of free online tickets, but more are available at the door. We ask that those who claim a free ticket to wait for available seating at show time.
As a special gift, there will be a raffle of Patricia Smith's new book, The Intentions of Thunder, held during the show. We would like to thank Leigh's Favorite Books in Sunnyvale for providing us with copies of Ms. Smith's book.
Patricia Smith will also participate in a Q&A after her reading.
Tiny Room Poetry Series is supported by SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Our performers:
Patricia Smith
Patricia Smith is the author of ten books of poetry, including The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems (Scriber, 2025), finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry; Unshuttered (Northwestern 2023); Incendiary Art (Northwestern 2017), winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award, the LA Times Book Prize, and the NAACP Image Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (Coffee House Press, 2012), winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; and Blood Dazzler (Coffee House Press, 2008), a National Book Award finalist. Her work has been published widely, including in Best American Poetry and Best American Essays. Her short story “When They Are Done With Us” won the Robert Fish Award from the Mystery Writers of America and was featured in Best American Mystery Stories.
Smith is a 2024 inductee into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, as well as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a chancellor in the Academy of American Poets, a Guggenheim fellow, an National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, a finalist for the Neustadt Prize, a former fellow at Civitella Ranieri, Yaddo, and MacDowell, and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history.
She is a professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, as well as a former distinguished professor for the City University of New York. Currently, she is at work on her first novel and a collection of short stories.
NOAH and the Arkiteks
Bay Area soul singer/songwriter and guitarist Noah exudes so much soul and blues that he and his tight group of seasoned musicians - known as NOAH AND THE ARKITEKS - will take you down memory lane of great soul vocalists Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, and then switch it up and funk things up with nods to Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley. Formed in 2015 the Alternative Soul band throws in hints of a classic sound that pulls from American Roots music. Their first single “Soul Fire” is a bare bones dive into heartbreak and a wanting for Love. Noah and the Arkiteks sprinkle in their own Bay-area influenced West coast jazz and funk to keep you moving to a truly signature Bay Area groove.
Your host:
Tshaka Campbell is the first black, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate and has authored four books of poetry entitled “TARMAN”, “MUTED WHISPERS”, “STUFF, I will write more”, “TUNNEL VISION'' and is latest book published by El Martilo press entitled “BLOOD AT THE ROOT. ” His words have been featured in Bridges Review, BBC UK, Content magazine, Speakeasy vol 1, Liminal Animals, Rigorous magazine, among others. A city of Milpitas and city of Sunnyvale commendation in the arts award recipient, Tshaka has also collaborated on projects with the World Health Organization (WHO), the De young museum in San Francisco, the NUMU and Triton museums, as well sits on the Board of Directors for Silicon Valley Creates arts council and Poetry Center San Jose. He has partnered with the Silicon Valley Transit Authority and community members to deliver youth programs centered around expanding poetry and literature. He has 4 spoken word albums entitled "ONE", “BLOODLINES”, "SKIN vol.1"; and his most recent release "NKISI" is currently available on all streaming platforms.