2025 San José Poetry Festival: Writing Workshop with Jaz Sufi

The 2025 San José Poetry Festival celebrates California spirit with a lineup that features wily writers, lyrical legends, and spoken word soothsayers from all over our state. This year, we are honored to not only host a reading, but also a writing workshop with Kim Addonizio! Also on the roster is Joseph Rios (Fresno Poet Laureate emeritus), Jaz Sufi, Lucia Misch, Keiko O’Leary, José Jiménez, Jan McEwan and more. Join us for a mix of free Zoom events, in-person performances, and writing workshops. Saturday’s Youth Poets Laureate event will also feature Yosimar Reyes, SCC Youth Poet Laureate Sage Cobb and the finalists for the 2025 Youth Poet Laureate program! Secure your tickets online or at each venue. We are so excited for this year’s festival.

Click here to peruse all 2025 San José Poetry Festival tickets, workshops and passes!

Festival Performances are free for anyone aged 19 and under; workshops not included.

Nearest ParkSJ Garage: 45 N. Market St. near San Pedro Square.
(First 90 minutes free, $1 per 15 minutes after)

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

Workshop description to come.

Paper, pens and pencils will be provided, but we recommend that you bring everything you need to have the best possible writing session. We expect a large attendance, so we will likely hold the workshop outside under the big oak tree in front of Markham House. You are welcome to use the house to find a comfortable place to write. Coffee and tea will be provided.

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