What we’re about
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.
In furtherance of our mission, we offer programs and services to stimulate passion for the literary arts and to inspire and support emerging and established writers. All programs center the literary arts, particularly poetry, without prejudice to any specific tradition. We celebrate all poetry traditions and collaborate with other organizations to co-sponsor programming in our endeavor to bring poetry to multiple communities in San José to ensure that these programs and services reflect the diversity of our community and to involve people from a wide range of backgrounds as audience and members. The majority of our programs are free, open to the public and offer aspiring poets the opportunity to share their work during the open mic segment of the event.
Every PCSJ team member follows the organization's core values and principles of service, including respect, trust, stewardship, joy in service, and excellence. Our events are safe spaces of sharing and compassion for our membership and general community.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- 2025 San José Poetry Festival – Opening Night w/McEwan, O'Leary & JiménezSJZ Break Room, San Jose, CA$25.00
This is Day One of our four-day festival! Check out the complete list of events that are part of the 2025 San José Poetry Festival! Our festival pass will get you into all live events and online events.
This event is free to all youth aged 19 and under and to those with a festival pass. A complimentary Youth Ticket is required to ensure available seating.
$25 for general public and $20 for PCSJ Members. Admission may be purchased at the door.Click here to peruse all 2025 San José Poetry Festival tickets and passes!
Doors open at 6:30pm. Show begins at 7pm.
***
OPENING NIGHT!
Our 11th annual festival opens with three local legends from different parts of the Santa Clara Valley. While they may vary in style, form and presentation, they have read on the same stages, inspired the same audiences and fostered a Venn diagram of communities throughout the South Bay. From workshops, to publishing, to supporting new poets and writers, tonight's trio represents three generations of San José poetry!Tonight's Poets
Jan McEwan (Janet M.) wore all the hats as Running Deer Press, publisher/editor of Writing For Our Lives, a feminist lit/mag, 15 issues in all, in the 1990’s. It was all about the healing value of telling our untold stories, & ushering some of them into print. While enjoying the privilege of reading thousands of manuscripts of women’s writing, she was engaging in the rich & serendipitous life of arts, writing, healing & women’s community that paralleled her long practice in healthcare as a Registered Nurse. For several summers she led writing retreats called Write For the Trees at the Women’s Forest Sanctuary, a non-profit land trust in the Mattole watershed, while she was on its board. Long in the shadows with her own work, she was a founding member of Nibwits, a writers’ support group; was once a featured reader at Poet/Speak in Santa Cruz; listened in awe at open mics in Los Gatos from the time Robert Pesich & Bea Garth hosted them at Café Rouge. There she met a kindred spirit with whom she became “The Beats of Los Gatos,” an art & writing-inspired friendship to this day. These days she’s known at Third Thursday open mics for her long serial poem Mother Vulture. Not long after she retired from paid work in 2019, COVID hit. “Sacred Pause” was the reframe that transformed her leaden solitude into gold. At the balance point of Autumn Equinox 2020, to practice for her dream of entering the annual August Poetry Postcard Fest, she poised her pen over paper & tuned in for a spontaneous poem to write directly onto a postcard, quick & alive, here & now, first draft. Her pen wrote “Mother Vulture.” From that portal Mother Vulture arrived, wild, from somewhere deep & vast, a most unlikely but perfect muse for the cosmology of a life, & no less than a guise of the Great Mother goddess archetype. Her ongoing serial poem unfurls itself.
Jan finally did become a Postcard Poet, two years now.
Born & raised in San Jose, she’s lived in Los Gatos many years.Keiko O'Leary is the author of Your Writing Matters: 34 Quick Essays to Get Unstuck and Stay Inspired. Her poems, stories, and essays have been featured in Caesura, FICTION Silicon Valley, and at curated live events, including Flash Fiction Forum and Play on Words San José. As Cupertino Poet Laureate, Keiko leads poetry-themed workshops and live events that celebrate creativity. She is a co‑founder of Thinking Ink Press, where she publishes traditional books, as well as innovative formats such as poetry postcards and mini books folded from a single sheet of paper. Connect with Keiko at KeikoOLeary.com.
José Jiménez is a California poet with proud Mexican roots, driven by a passion for truth, resistance, and reflection. His poetry explores justice, resilience, and social change, drawing from personal and collective experiences to challenge, heal, and inspire. With a commanding presence, José blends raw emotion with sharp wordplay, turning poetry into both a mirror and a megaphone. Jose is a 2x Grand Slam Champion and a finalist at multiple regional & national competitions in the Bay Area and around the country.
***
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.
San José Poetry Festival 2025 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 Jose Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki, Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Mama Kin, Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture at 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. - 2025 San José Poetry Festival – ¡Cultura Poetry Night! with Open MicLink visible for attendees
This is Day Two of our four-day festival! Our festival pass will get you into all live events.
Click here to peruse all 2025 San José Poetry Festival tickets and passes!This event is free to the public. Zoom opens at 6:15pm. Show begins at 6:30pm.
Get your free ¡Cultura Poetry Night! Ticket¡Cultura Poetry Night! with Open Mic
Friday, September 26, 2025
6:30-8:30pm Pacific Time via Zoom¡Cultura Poetry Night! celebrates the culture of people who identify as Chicana/o, Raza, Latinx, and people with Indigenous heritage 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 at this inclusive event presented by Poetry Center San José, hosted by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, in partnership with La Raíz Magazine.
About the Featured Poets:
Leticia Hernández-Linares is a bilingual, interdisciplinary writer, artist, and racial justice educator. Widely published, she is the author of the poetry collection Mucha Muchacha, Too Much Girl (Tía Chucha Press, 2015) and the children’s book Alejandria Fights Back! ¡La lucha de Alejandria! (Feminist Press, 2021). A five-time San Francisco Arts Commission grantee, she received the San Francisco Flor y Canto Community Appreciation award in 2023. She teaches in Latina, Latino Studies at San Francisco State University, and has lived, created, and protested in the Mission District (unceded, ancestral Ramaytush Ohlone land), while living on the same block, for thirty years.
website: joinleticia.com
IG: @mucha_muchacha15Marvin Flores is a Chicano poet, teaching artist, and community organizer who won the 2024 Youth Speaks Bay Area Slam and went on to represent the Bay Area at the national youth slam in Washington, D.C. His work centers on bringing poetry to underserved and underrepresented youth in the South Bay, with the goal of launching a youth slam specifically for local voices. Marvin is also a member of Los Jaguares, a student-led organization at Foothill College dedicated to political education, advocacy, and holistic community support—addressing the spiritual, physical, and mental well-being of Latino students and their broader communities. He is also the first ever Poet Laureate of his college campus.
IG: @marvinflorespoesiaOPEN MIC:
Sign up at http://bit.ly/laraizopenmic
Confirm your presence at the start of the event, when asked (in the first 10 minutes).
Day-of sign ups are first come, first served.
Thank you!
*****
Presented by: Poetry Center San José www.pcsj.org @poetrycentersanjose
Host: Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo
IG: @elizabethjimenezmontelongo / FB: @ejmontelongo
Community Partner: La Raíz Magazine http://laraizmagazine.com
IG: @laraizmagazine / FB: @laraizmag#culturapoetrynight #pcsj #laraizmagazine #multilingualpoetry #poesiabilingue #indigenouspoetry #chicanopoetry #poetasenvivo #poetsofcolor #laculturacura #poetry #poesía
***
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.
San José Poetry Festival 2025 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 Jose Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki, Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Mama Kin, Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture at 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. - 2025 San José Poetry Festival – Friday Night with Addonizio, Sufi & RiosHillbrook Upper School, San Jose, CA$25.00
This is Day TWO of our four-day festival! Click here to peruse all 2025 San José Poetry Festival tickets and passes!
This event is free to all youth aged 19 and under and to those with a festival pass. A complimentary Youth Ticket is required to ensure available seating.
$25 for general public and $15 for PCSJ Members. Admission may be purchased at the door.
Buy your Friday Night tickets here!
Doors open at 7:30pm. Show begins at 8pm.
Nearest ParkSJ Garage: 45 N. Market St. near San Pedro Square.
(First 90 minutes free, $1 per 15 minutes after)FRIDAY NIGHT!
Our second night of poetry brings together three voices from three cultures from across California. A wondrous, eclectic trio! Tonight's poets are Kim Addonizio, Jaz Sufi and Joseph Rios! Not to be missed!Kim Addonizio is the author of eight poetry collections, two novels, two story collections, and two books on writing poetry: The Poet’s Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius. Her poetry collection Tell Me was a finalist for the National Book Award. She also has two word/music CDS: Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing (with Susan Browne) and My Black Angel, the companion to My Black Angel: Blues Poems and Portraits, a collaboration with woodcut artist Charles D. Jones. Her poetry has been translated into several languages including Spanish, Arabic, Italian, and Hungarian. Collections have been published in China, Spain, Mexico, Lebanon, and the UK. Addonizio’s awards include two fellowships from the NEA, a Guggenheim, two Pushcart Prizes, and other honors. Her latest books are a poetry collection, Mortal Trash (W.W. Norton), and a memoir, Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life (Penguin). Now We’re Getting Somewhere (March 2021) and Exit Opera (2024) were published by W.W. Norton. More at kimaddonizio.com
Jaz Sufi (she/her) is a queer Iranian-American poet and arts educator. She is a National Poetry Slam finalist and the former executive director of the Berkeley Slam, the longest running poetry slam on the West Coast. She has toured internationally, from Berlin and London to performing alongside the Townsend Opera. Her work has been published or is upcoming in Best New Poets, Best of the Net, AGNI, Black Warrior Review, Muzzle, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from Kundiman, the Watering Hole, and New York University, where she received her MFA as a Goldwater fellow. She has taught in K-12 and college classrooms across the country, and works as a teaching artist with Bay Area Creative. She is the current Poet Laureate of San Ramon on occupied Ohlone land, where she lives with her dog, Apollo. More at jazsufi.com
Joseph Rios was born in the San Joaquin Valley in 1987. He is a Xicano writer and the author of Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations (Omnidawn, 2017), winner of a 2018 American Book Award. A Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University, Rios is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships from Community of Writers, CantoMundo, Letras Latinas, and the California Arts Council. He was named one of the "10 Poets Who Will Change the World" by Poets & Writers Magazine for 2017. He is a VONA alumnus and a Macondo Fellow. He's been a gardener, a janitor, a packing house supervisor, and a handyman. Rios lives on Yokuts land in Fresno, California, where he serves as poet laureate. In 2024, he received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.
***
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.
San José Poetry Festival 2025 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 Jose Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki, Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Mama Kin, Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture at 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.
- 2025 San José Poetry Festival – Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles WorkshopLink visible for attendees
This is Day Three of our four-day festival! Our festival pass will get you into all live events. Click here to peruse all 2025 San José Poetry Festival tickets and passes!
This event is free to the public. Zoom opens at 9:45am. Workshop begins at 10:00am. Get Your Workshop Ticket Here!
Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles
To Serve Others, Not Serve Oneself
Saturday, September 27, 2025 10:00am-11:30pm via ZoomThis workshop is presented by Poetry Center San José, in partnership with La Raíz Magazine, facilitated by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo.
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. Participants will be guided to write poetry in an interactive workshop featuring three segments of sample poetry, a prompt, 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: Obedecer y No Mandar; Proponer y No Imponer; Representar y No Suplantar; Convencer y No Vencer; Construir y No Destruir; Servir y No Servirse; 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 facilitator. She is Xicana Mexican of Indigenous descent. She served as 2021 Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs is a California Arts Council and YBCA Creative Corps Initiative Grantee and has facilitated generative poetry workshops for universities and non-profit organizations. Elizabeth earned a BFA in Art and a BA in French from San José State University. She is a Board Member of Poetry Center San José and Editor of La Raíz Magazine. www.ejmontelongo.com/poetry
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo es poeta, artista plástica y facilitadora Xicana Mexicana de herencia indígena. 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.
Instagram: @elizabethjimenezmontelongo Facebook: @ejmontelongoLa 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 heritage is rooted in areas that are now Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, who may identify as: Indigenous, Raza, Chicana/o, from their country of origin, Latinx, or Hispanic. www.laraizmagazine.com
La Raíz Magazine provee oportunidades para participar en el arte de manera cultural y generative, también abriendo paso para la publicación y presentación pública de obras creativas, con el enfoque en apoyar la expresión de gente de muchas culturas, mujeres y niñas, particularmente personas con herencia en areas que ahora son México, Centro América, el Caribe, y Sur América, de alguna parte del continente Américano, quienes son gente indígena, de herencia indígena, Raza, Chicana, Latina, o Hispana.
Instagram: @laraizmagazine Facebook: @laraizmag********
Image: "Welcome" artwork by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo#palabrasandpoetry #pcsj #laraizmagazine #generativepoetryworkshop #zoompoetry #poetryworkshop #liberation #multilingualpoetry #poesiabilingue #spanglishpoetry #chicanapoet #chicanopoetry #latinapoets #latinxpoetry #laculturacura #poetry #poesía
***
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.
***
San José Poetry Festival 2025 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 Jose Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki, Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Mama Kin, Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture at 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.
