2025 San José Poetry Festival – Small Press Fair & Open Mic

This is Day Four of our four-day festival! Click here to peruse all 2025 San José Poetry Festival tickets, workshops and passes!

Admission is free to the public.

Parking at History Park: There are three parking lot options. Click here to expand our map in a new tab

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 writing workshop with Lucia Misch at the end of the fair! Reserve your workshop seat here.

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

Small Presses & Publishers Tabling:

• Swan Scythe Press
• Sampaguita Press
• Thinking Ink Press
• Tourane Poetry Press
• Veterans of Life Write
• and more!

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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.
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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