Santa Clara County
Youth Poet Laureate
Program
The Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate program is youth-centered program to celebrate literacy and self-literacy through poetry and connect young writers to opportunities for performances and community collaborations.
Each year, we will accept applications from talented Santa Clara County writers (ages 13-18) to join a community of young poets. The Laureate earns an educational scholarship. The Laureate will, and all the Finalists are invited to, serve as ambassadors for literacy, arts and youth expression with ongoing opportunities for performances, projects, and peer support.
Every applicant will be invited to stay in connection with the SCC Youth Poet Laureate community.
Working Together as Leaders in Poetry
Get to know our dedicated team of young poets and organizers who are passionate about empowering youth voices through poetry and community engagement.
2025-2026
The 2025 Cohort's mission is to ensure poetry belongs to everyone: creating empathy, celebrating diverse voices, but most of all making the art of language a bridge instead of a barrier.
Their projects include: a regular speak-up series in partnership with local youth organizations, quarterly writing workshops, and a multi-lingual anthology.
Kurn Sundaram
Youth Poet Laureate,
Advisory Board
Kurn Sundaram is a performance poet based in Northern California. He has been published by PWU, The Battering Ram, The Outlook, WEIGHT Journal, and more, and was named a 2024 YoungArts Winner in spoken word. Additionally, he has been recognized by the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and the Los Gatos Poet Laureate. He is the founder & editor-in-chief of JADE&COMPASS, a literary magazine that advocates for marginalized voices across the globe. When he isn't writing, you can catch him watching a show he will never complete. Here's their website: https://www.jadeandcompass.com/
Laya Krishnan
Co-Vice Youth Poet Laureate, Community Outreach & Partnerships
Laya Krishnan is a high school senior from San Jose and Santa Clara County's 2025-26 Vice Youth Poet Laureate. Her poetry largely carries themes of inheritance, displacement, and belonging. As the daughter of Indian immigrants, she treats paradox as both subject and method, tracing joy and loss as twin strands of the immigrant experience. Laya's work has been recognized by the Kenyon Review and the Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose, and she has been published in International Policy Digest. Outside of writing poetry, you can find Laya in a museum or conducting rigorous research on bagel flavors.
Rebecca Cai
Junior Poetry Ambassador, Social Media Lead
Rebecca Cai is a Chinese-American poet from California. As a 2025 Foyle Young Poet, her writing has been recognized by DePaul’s Blue Book, Hollins University, and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, among others. She is an alum of the Adroit Writing Mentorship and Kenyon Young Writers' Workshop, and she also edits for Aster Lit. Rebecca can always be found eating good food with her loved ones.
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Ashley Mo
Poetry Ambassador, Anthology Committee
Ashley is a Chinese-American poet and journalist from the Bay Area. Through writing, she strives to uncover the depths of culture, grief, and ephemerality, among other topics. Her work has been recognized by the Lewis Center and Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and she serves as an Editor-in-Chief of her school's print newspaper. Outside of writing, Ashley loves playing golf, listening to music, and driving anywhere and everywhere.
2024-2025:
Anoushka Dugar
Vice Youth Poet Laureate, Programming Committee
Anoushka Dugar is an aspiring poet and Indian classical dancer based in the Bay Area. Her poetry has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and Élan Literary Magazine. Her love for dance has translated to her love for performing, and she has presented her poetry to audiences at her school and local bay area events. With her writing, she explores nature, her cultural identity, and the various aspects of what it means to be human. Apart from writing poetry, she is a part of the Mountain View High School student publication, the Oracle, where she serves as the Print People editor and co-runs Mindful Moment, a podcast dedicated to wellness. You’ll often find her drinking too many cups of chamomile tea, and watching the latest movies with family and friends.
Emily Pedroza
Junior Poetry Ambassador, Events & Programming
Emily Pedroza is a junior at Lynbrook High School, teen writer, and poet. She has been recognized/published by the New York Times, Young Arts, Scholastic Arts and Writing, Cargoes, and more. When she’s not writing or doing homework, you can find her under covers — curled up next to good books, nursing steaming cups of tea, or designing creative writing curriculum for beginning writers through Pens to Palms. She serves as the writing editor of her school’s literary magazine, and hopes to continue craft accessible creative writing opportunities and education for all groups.
Nisha Shenoy
Vice Youth Poet Laureate, Marketing
Ashley is a Chinese-American poet and journalist from the Bay Area. Through writing, she strives to uncover the depths of culture, grief, and ephemerality, among other topics. Her work has been recognized by the Lewis Center and Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and she serves as an Editor-in-Chief of her school's print newspaper. Outside of writing, Ashley loves playing golf, listening to music, and driving anywhere and everywhere.
2023-2024
Events and Programming Committee
Sage Cobb
Sage Cobb (they/them) is one of the 2023-2024 Youth Poetry Ambassadors of Santa Clara County. They are a disabled and queer poet, and that is what they write about. They attend Los Gatos High School, where their work has been published in the literary magazine. They love to write poems about whatever they feel, jump on their trampoline, listen to way too much music, and talk to people.
Co-Vice Youth Poet Laureate, 2023-2024
Matthew Kim
An Asian-American poet, journalist, activist and nerd born and raised in the Bay Area, Matthew Kim uses their poetry to explore gender, Christianity, third-ish-generation Korean-American assimilation, and coming of age in an antagonistic, confusing world. When they're not writing poetry, they're busy solving Rubik's Cubes and reviewing music.
Social Media and Marketing Committee
Nisha Shenoy
Nisha Shenoy is a 17-year old Indian-American poet based in the Bay Area. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and has been published by Just Poetry!!!, Paper Crane Journal, and Writopia Lab in their Turning the Page Anthology. She is an alum of the Iowa Young Writers' Studio and is the founder of the Paperback Club, an after-school creative writing program for middle school students (bit.ly/paperbackclub).
Co-Vice Poet Laureate 23-24
Social Media and Marketing Committee
Emma Zhang
Emma Zhang reads, writes, and attends Branham High School. Her work has been recognized by The Adroit Prizes as well as the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers as a National Best in Grade Winner, and appears in Peach Mag, Kissing Dynamite, Evocations Review, among others. She is the EIC of Aster Lit, an international youth literary magazine sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the co-founder of Love Letters to San Jose (https://loveletters2sj.carrd.co/), a zine and artist promoting platform working with San Jose Strong.
2022-2023
Junior Poetry AmbassadorSocial Media/Marketing Committee
Mahati Ramakrishnan
Mahati Ramakrishnan (she/her/hers) is a youth poet and a student at Lynbrook High School. She is fervent about writing prose and poetry about whatever comes to her mind, especially focusing on her Indian roots. She is an editor of Overture Literary Magazine, a club at her school, and is extremely excited and thankful to be a youth poetry ambassador for the team!
Junior Poetry AmbassadorEvents Committee
Myesha Phukan
Myesha Phukan (she/her) is a student at Mountain View High School. She is an aspiring poet, and likes to base her writing off of her culture, as well as racial/social issues. Apart from writing poetry, she is a member of her school’s Model UN club, the MV Green Team, and SLAM Magazine, where she writers about social issues that are prevalent in our society. Other than writing, she loves to read and buys an unhealthy amount of books every day.
Social Media and Marketing Committee
Anna Yang
Anna Yang (she/her) is a junior at Notre Dame High School. Her work appears in DoveTales, An International Online Journal of the Arts, Young Inklings, The Stanford Daily, and more. She has been recognized by Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the New York Times, HFPA, among others. She was also awarded as a California Arts Scholar in Creative Writing. Aside from poetry, she enjoys advocating for social change, hiking by the ocean, and being the friendly neighborhood beekeeper!
2020-2022
Junior Poetry Ambassador
Social Media/Marketing Committee
Mahati Ramakrishnan
Mahati Ramakrishnan (she/her/hers) is a youth poet and a student at Lynbrook High School. She is fervent about writing prose and poetry about whatever comes to her mind, especially focusing on her Indian roots. She is an editor of Overture Literary Magazine, a club at her school, and is extremely excited and thankful to be a youth poetry ambassador for the team!
Junior Poetry Ambassador
Events Committee
Myesha Phukan
Myesha Phukan (she/her) is a student at Mountain View High School. She is an aspiring poet, and likes to base her writing off of her culture, as well as racial/social issues. Apart from writing poetry, she is a member of her school’s Model UN club, the MV Green Team, and SLAM Magazine, where she writers about social issues that are prevalent in our society. Other than writing, she loves to read and buys an unhealthy amount of books every day.
Events Committee
Founding Member
Sarah Mohammed
Sarah Fathima Mohammed, daughter of Indian Muslim immigrants, is a poet from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the 2021-22 National Student Poet of the West, the nation's highest honor for youth poets presenting original work. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Adroit Journal, Frontier Poetry, wildness, SOFTBLOW, PANK, and diode and has been recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation, Poetry Society of the UK, Claudia Ann Seaman Awards, and Hollins University. She was born in 2005.
Events Committee
Founding Member
Sophia Smith
Nisha Shenoy is a 17-year old Indian-American poet based in the Bay Area. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and has been published by Just Poetry!!!, Paper Crane Journal, and Writopia Lab in their Turning the Page Anthology. She is an alum of the Iowa Young Writers' Studio and is the founder of the Paperback Club, an after-school creative writing program for middle school students (bit.ly/paperbackclub).