A nationally touring spoken word show rolls into Mission Valley yesterday, bringing a Grammy-nominated poet and an open mic to the Handlery Hotel San Diego. Write About Now Poetry Live in San Diego kicks off with doors at 7:30 PM and the show starting at 8 PM, with tickets running between $33.15 and $43.44.
The performance is part of a broader touring circuit run by Write About Now Poetry, a Houston, Texas-based organization, according to KPBS. The group produces more than 150 live events annually and has built a social media following of more than 2 million people, per the outlet. What began as a weekly open mic gathering at AvantGarden in Houston has since grown into a global media brand whose performance clips have circulated widely online, according to Write About Now Poetry.
Headlining the San Diego stop is Shawn William, a Grammy-nominated spoken word artist who has performed at the Apollo, Radio City Music Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and who has toured with Jill Scott, per KPBS. William earned his Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for “For Your Consideration '24 - The Album,” a joint project with Oakland poet Prentice Powell recorded live in a single take, as reported by CBS San Francisco. The live-recorded album centered on Black male brotherhood, mental health, and personal growth, according to that report.
A New Grammy Category Elevates Spoken Word
William's nomination came in a category the Recording Academy only created in 2023, giving performance poets dedicated national visibility on music's biggest stage, according to The Poet's List. Before that standalone category existed, spoken word was lumped in alongside audiobooks and storytelling, the outlet notes. William has been writing and performing spoken word for more than two decades, and beyond the Grammy nod he co-founded the writing collective Fiveology, published the poetry collection *Tall, Dark & Healing*, and completed an artist residency at the Kennedy Center, according to Write About Now Poetry.
Hosting Friday's show is Mason Granger, who has spent years building bicoastal poetry institutions. Granger served as Deputy Director at Get Lit - Words Ignite, a Los Angeles youth poetry organization that integrates classic poetry with modern youth spoken word across California schools, according to The Nerds of Color. He previously served as Executive Director of Bowery Arts & Science and hosted the weekly PoetNY open mic at New York City's Bowery Poetry Club, per the same outlet.
From Digital Archiving to a Live Mission Valley Stage
Granger's résumé also includes founding SlamFind in 2014, a digital platform and YouTube channel that grew to roughly 100,000 subscribers connecting live spoken word performance videos with fans and venues, according to the USC Schwarzenegger Institute. He was later named the institute's inaugural Poet-in-Residence, with his own poetry centering on environmental sustainability, class, and social engagement, per that account. Friday's San Diego stop is one leg of a broader August 2026 West Coast and national tour that also includes dates in Philadelphia, Newark, Phoenix, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, according to Write About Now Poetry's promotional materials.
The show will include an open mic segment alongside William's special spoken word performance, per KPBS. It takes place at the Handlery Hotel San Diego, located at 950 Hotel Circle North, a Mission Valley property originally established in 1954 by Harry Handlery as part of the Stardust Hotel and Country Club complex. The hotel remains family-owned four generations later, according to the Handlery Hotel San Diego.
Part of a Broader Local Poetry Moment
The event arrives amid a period of heightened civic attention to San Diego's spoken word scene. In January 2025, the city appointed writer and educator Paola Capó-García as its Poet Laureate, tasking her with composing original works and running civic poetry programs, and with bringing local communities together through public spoken word initiatives.
The Handlery Hotel has also drawn recent local attention for a more somber reason. In March 2025, San Diego police arrested a suspect in connection with a fatal shooting in the parking area outside the hotel on Hotel Circle North that left one man dead and another injured, according to Hoodline's earlier report on the fatal Handlery Hotel shooting. Organizers note that Friday's event schedule, like any live show, remains subject to change without notice.
