California State Parks & Quiet Lightning, in partnership with Friends of China Camp, present Poetry in Parks 2024, a daylong literary arts festival to be held at China Camp Village in San Rafael's China Camp State Park.

Programming will include readings by the Marin County Youth Poet Laureate and YPL Ambassadors, with Mira Sridharan, Clarisse Kim + others TBA; a Better Ancestors set featuring readings by Karla Myn Khine, Alex Feliciano Mejia, Kato Bisase, Zouhair Mussa, Sarah O'Neal and special host Tadeh Kennedy; and a submission-based literary mixtape featuring all forms of writing, curated by Connie Zheng and Evan Karp, and featuring cover art by Kristiana 莊礼恩 Chan.

The mixtape will feature two sets of readings – in the first, by Aiya Madarang, Susana Praver-Pérez, Heather Bourbeau, Abigail Bereola, Norma Smith, Catherine Montague, Dani Burlison and Chun Yu 俞淳; then, after a short break, by Katie Wheeler-Dubin, Robert S. Pesich, Meesha Goldberg, Simone Zapata, Terri Glass, Shirley Huey, Charlie Getter, Leslie Beach and Fadl Fakhouri!

There will also be live music by Gillian Grogan!

The full schedule is roughly as follows, with times subject to fluctuate slightly:

12pm: Snack table, water station, greeter and book tables open

12:20p: Live music by Gillian Grogan, introduced by Kelsey Schimmelman

1:00p: Welcome, readings by Marin County Youth Poet Laureate & Ambassadors

1:30p: Better Ancestors, hosted by Tadeh Kennedy

2:30p: Live music by Gillian Grogan, set 2

3:00p: Literary mixtape set 1, hosted by Connie Zheng & Evan Karp

3:30p: Set break

3:45p: Literary mixtape set 2

4:30p: Thank you, mingling, trash + break-down

7:15p: Sunset

After sunset: the park is closed

Poetry in Parks is a program of Arts in California Parks, a California State Parks program created in partnership with California Arts Council and Parks California.

This will be an all-ages event with mature themes. You are encouraged to arrive early and enjoy the park's beaches, tour the village and museum, or simply take in the scenic views from one of the park's many picnic tables.

Drinks (alcoholic and non-) will be available for purchase through the onsite shop, with all proceeds benefiting Friends of China Camp, stewards of the park on behalf of California State Parks. You are very welcome to bring your own food and drinks, but we kindly request everyone clean up after yourselves – we will have trash, recycling and compost bins available.

Please note: China Camp Village is not fully accessible but we can accommodate most if not all advance requests. If you have an accessibility question or concern, please reach out to [email protected] and we’ll do our absolute best.

Tickets are not required for attendance, which is free and open to all. We ask for your registration for the following reasons:

• To help give us a rough sense of how many people to expect, as we plan to bring seating and some complimentary snacks.
• It’s the best way for us to communicate to you any changes in the event, as well as additional day-of information that we will send to all ticket-holders a few days before the event.
• It's also an easy way for you to help support this program, Poetry in Parks, as well as our quarterly showcase of writers of color, Better Ancestors. Everyone who participates in a Quiet Lightning event is paid, and both our board and staff consist entirely of volunteers. We rely on donations and foundational support to make sure we can continue to provide performance and publication opportunities that are open to everyone and do not have any barriers to entry. 100% of donations to Quiet Lightning go directly to paying local artists.
• If you register for a ticket, we will sign you up for our occasional (almost monthly) newsletter, which contains calls for submissions and announcements of new events and publications.

Transportation: the park is accessible by car or bike, and there is ample parking available. If you are interested in attending but would need a ride, please write to [email protected].

Top and background photos by Evan Karp. Art featured top right is by Kristiana 莊礼恩 Chan, featured artist for sPARKLE & bLINK 117.