Youth Poet Power: The Friends Support 15 Years of the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Program

By Colleen Haikes, Friends of the OPL Director

What a milestone! OPL’s Oakland Youth Poet Laureate (OYPL) program turns 15

this year. The OPL was one of the first organizations in the country to launch a

city-wide youth poet program. In fact even the national youth poet program

started after OYPL, and our OPL Teen Services has advised many other locales

in their launches. We caught up with OPL’s Head of Teen Services, Sharon

McKellar, who has been shepherding the program officially since 2018.

Q: Looking back over 15 years, what has the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate

program meant to young people in Oakland?

The program creates a community of youth who appreciate the art of the

written word as a way to share their own personal and political perspective on the

world. It shows other teens that their voices matter and gives them, across the

years, a platform that encourages them to speak and adults to listen. The

program puts the poets in a space together and lets magic happen.

In a recent interview, 2025 OYPL Cael Dueñas-Lara shared with me, ”I wouldn't

be who I am today without the program. I now try to do for other people what the program has done for me, and that is to give them their voice. I'm forever grateful for the opportunities it’s given to me.”

Q: What changes have you seen in participants from the moment they apply to

the moment they step into the role of Youth Poet Laureate?

At first, most of the young people think of this as a competition. A teen applies,

shows up and is nervous to be judged. But by the end of the first full day, they

leave as a bonded group, changed by their interactions and with an

understanding that we really mean it when we say it is about the community, and

not about “winning.”

We often have teens who have never read their work out loud before they do so

in front of the judging panel. They are nervous, shy, maybe feel unprepared.

During their time in the program, they have an opportunity to learn from others,

gaining peer and adult confirmation of their worth. They see their writing, public

speaking, leadership skills, and performance improve. They end their year with

greater confidence and maturity.

Finalists return and see the program grow. They are supporters of the new poets.

That is the beauty of it!

Q: Why is it important that a public library houses and leads this program?

This is my soapbox. First, the library is a government department which lends its

official stamp to the title. The library gives the poets a platform, and we are able

to help get them involved in city activities and events.

Second, the OYPL program serves all ages, as does the library. It isn’t just about

the poets, but the people who get to hear them, work with them, and learn from

them. They go to elementary schools. Adults hear them speak. The library is a

place we can host them for events.

Third, the library is trusted by our community in working with young people.

Q: The Friends of the Oakland Public Library have supported the program with a $5,000 scholarship for the winner each year. What does that financial support make possible?

The program doesn’t exist without the Friends, who donate a $5,000

scholarship for the winner and $500 for each finalist. In addition, I have a grant

from the Friends for the program costs which allows us to do our announcement

event, our second judging round, and to support our poets in the way that they

should be supported! The Friends also give to the program by speaking about

the program’s impact and importance and inviting poets to perform at important

Friends functions. Thank you, Friends!

Q: What gives you hope as you look toward the next 15 years of the Oakland

Youth Poet Laureate program?

My hope is that the program continues to be a vital part of what the library

provides as a service to the city. And that our young poets continue to tell us

what they need from adults - from their government and community and its

leaders - through this program. Because Oakland is a magical place, it, of

course, influences the poets and how they write and in turn the poets shape

Oakland with their words.

We now have 14 years of alumni, and many of them return time and time again

to support the new poets, to perform at our events, and even to work for the

library! But aside from what they give back to us and to the poets who are

coming through after them, they have also gone out into the world and done so

much more. Fourteen years of OYPL poets whose voices have carried beyond

their moment in this program, beyond Oakland, and into their adulthood. They

bring all the skills they developed with OYPL to all of their ventures and they are

out there doing so much! I know wherever they are, their time with the program

has impacted them, and helps them impact their community and humanity more

broadly.

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Thanks so much to Sharon for directing this program for the Oakland Public Library. For all the Friends, please mark your calendars for the amazing final performances of the 2026 OYPL cohort at Oakstop on Broadway on June 5, 2026! Visit OYPL for more information and to watch some of these inspiring young people share their poetry!

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Fun facts about the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate program:

✦ This year, the poets have performed 2 to 6 times a month. Cael Dueñas-Lara,

the 2025 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate, averages a performance a week!

✦ Organizations can book a poet for an event. Some examples of OYPL performance opportunities include schools, city events, community organizations, and galas.

✦ Our poets have shared the stage with celebrities; Nadia Elbgal, who was the

2022 OYPL and is now a judge, performed at UCSF Benioff Children’s

Hospital-Oakland along with Beck. And 2018 OYPL Leila Mottley has gone on

to success with her novel, Nightcrawling, named to Oprah’s 2022 Book Club.