Nonprofit profile: Santa Clara County supervisors name new poet laureate

Author Tshaka Campbell plans to implement several new programs

Tshaka Campbell

By Staff Report

Creativity flows in Tshaka Campbell’s veins. He’ll put his inspiration to good use as he steps into the shoes of poet laureate for Santa Clara County at the Feb. 8 Board of Supervisors’ meeting to formally introduce Campbell who will share a selection of his written work as part of the invocation.

His two-year term in the honorary post will end Dec. 21, 2023. Campbell is the seventh poet laureate to be appointed to the position. Nils Peterson was the county’s first poet laureate (2009-2011), followed by Sally Ashton (2012-2013), David Perez (2014-2015), Arlene Biala (2016-2017), Mike McGee (2018-2019), and Janice Lobo Sapigao (2020-2021).

Campbell looks forward to implementing multiple programs aimed at spreading and socializing the impact of poetry within our communities. One of these initiatives, “In Our Words,” will invite local youth/students to author poems that capture the impact the past two years of life during a pandemic have had on them. Their work will be published in an anthology and displayed at select installments around the county.

The curator of “Beautiful Black Books” as part of Poetry Center San José, Campbell conducts lectures, workshops in creative writings,  and spiritual verse as a talented poet, author, and musician. He has authored four books (Tarman, Muted Whispers, Tunnel Vision and Stuff) and has released three music albums (One, Bloodlines, and Skin Vol.1). Campbell has also collaborated on a number of musical projects in different genres, as well as appeared in national commercials.

“I am standing on the shoulders of those who have held the post in the past, so I am both honored and humbled to be chosen,” he said.

Poetry inspires people as well as sheds light upon the emotional side of the human condition, said County Librarian Jennifer Weeks.

“The library is a repository for the written word as well as a public space for poets to perform and future poets to learn the art form,” she said. “We look forward to hosting poetry events with Tshaka during his term.”

Words hold great power to entertain, to inform, and to help people grow, said Supervisor Mike Wasserman, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and chair of the Library Joint Powers Authority Board.

“The County of Santa Clara welcomes our new poet laureate and we look forward to the important contributions he brings to inspire a love and appreciation for poetry in our communities,” he said.

Campbell was recommended to the board following the call for applications, and a two-step review process organized by the county as well as Silicon Valley Creates and the Santa Clara County Library District.

“SVCreates is a proud partner in Santa Clara County’s poet laureate program and has been since its inception. This is one of several programs that highlight the importance of the arts in our community and works to ensure access to arts experiences for all in our county,” said Connie Martinez, CEO of Silicon Valley Creates. “We are thrilled Tshaka Campbell has been selected to demonstrate the power of poetry and its relevance to contemporary lives.”

According to Campbell’s website (www.tshakacampbellpoet.com), he lives in San Jose. He began writing poetry to find his own voice and point of view within the art form. As a performer, he is recognized as an accomplished artist and performance accolades include not only being a member of the Nuyorican national poetry slam team and the Da Poetry Lounge slam team, but also earning the Grand Champion title in San Francisco and Hollywood. In 2010, he was also honored with the UK Unsigned Artist award in poetry.

Tshaka has toured a number of U.S. cities and across the globe.

His website states that he “continues to be inspired by the struggle of life, the uncertain certainty of the universe and what it chooses to hand you. His wife and daughter show him the way daily, as well as so many authors and poets such as Octavia Butler, Ben Okri, Rumi, Baldwin, and countless others who spin language like silk.”