The Best Poems of San Diego

For over 15 years, San Diego Poetry Annual (SDPA) has featured renowned poets and artists alongside emerging local voices. The SDPA includes many of the finest poets from our region and beyond, plus the Steve Kowit Poetry Prize honorees, Native Poets and Poems from Juvenile Hall. San Diego Poetry Annual publishes three volumes: SDPA, SDPA Bilingual (featuring poems written in Spanish and translated into English) and The Kids! SDPA, which contains poems and original drawings from kids ages 6 to 12, created in free workshops.

SDPA is proud to offer free submissions and issue access, readings, community programs, mentorship opportunities, connecting San Diego and regional poets across all genres, experience levels, and backgrounds. All three volumes of the San Diego Poetry Annual are part of the permanent collections of every college and university library in the San Diego region, as well as the San Diego County Library system, the San Diego City Library and the libraries of individual cities, including Carlsbad, Oceanside and Escondido. Copies of each edition of the San Diego Poetry Annual are also donated in the name of contributing poets to select libraries and institutions nationally.

Our parent company is the San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild (SDEAG), a 501(c)(3) local arts nonprofit.

Cover image by Jennifer Chung Klam.