Quiet Lightning and California State Parks present this year’s Poetry in Parks, an annual collaboration that began in 2015, on Saturday, September 13 at China Camp Village in San Rafael's China Camp State Park. 

In partnership with Friends of China Camp, the day-long arts festival, with readings and live music, is free and open to the public and will be formatted much like last year’s event: youth readings by the Marin County Youth Poet Laureate and YPL Ambassadors, a submission-based literary mixtape (submissions open soon**), and a Better Ancestors showcase featuring writers of color.

The first 100 people at Poetry in Parks 2025 will receive a book featuring all of the mixtape writing and cover art by a local artist to be announced soon.

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.

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 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 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].

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.

** Call for curators!

The writing featured in our mixtapes is curated by two different people per show, in part so we don’t favor any particular styles of writing and also of course to bring new people into our community. We are currently seeking two curators for this Poetry in Parks mixtape! This is a paid opportunity, but we’ll be upfront that the pay is modest. If you are looking for a short-term creative project or a quick jumpstart, this could be a great opportunity as the process of curating these shows is energizing. Since the first mixtape in December 2009, we have had 78 different curators and every one has praised the experience as rich and rewarding – many have curated more than once. It requires about 20 hours of work over the course of 1 week, and attendance at the event on 9/13. If this sounds like something you might be interested in doing, and you’d like to know more, please write [email protected].

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.

Top photo by Danielle Shi and background photo by Evan Karp. Art top right is by Kristiana 莊礼恩 Chan, featured artist for last year's books.