Join us at upcoming readings, book launches, and literary gatherings featuring our authors and publications. Watershed Press events celebrate the voices and work of our writers in bookstores, cultural spaces, and community venues. Explore both upcoming and past events to see where our books have been—and where they’re headed next.
Events
Cascadia Poetry Festival 9
The Cascadia Poetry Festival
The Cascadia Poetry Festival is a gathering of poets and bioregionalists, exploring poetry and its connection to environmental, political, historical, and sociological pursuits within Cascadia bioregion. The festival aims to consider how prioritizing natural and cultural boundaries, rather than arbitrary political ones, can address climate change and other issues. Cascadia Poetics LAB Founders Circle Members will be given the first opportunity to purchase an all-access Gold Pass
Watershed Press Writers Night
Rain Shadow Poetics LAB 2025 Poetry Festival
Language & The Land: A Festival of Cascadian Poetry Aug 22-24
Watershed Press Writers Night
Opening Event: August 22, 2025 7-9PM
An evening of poetry and place, featuring readings by regional poets published by Watershed Press. Join us in celebrating the launch of On the Way to Kluusms by Comox Valley poet Lorin Medley, alongside selections from Cascadian Zen: Volume Two, a collection of bioregional reflections and poetics.
Tickets available at the door
Rain Shadow Poetics Lab 2025 Poetry Festival
Rain Shadow Poetics LAB 2025 Poetry Festival
Language & The Land: A Festival of Cascadian Poetry Aug 22-24
Venues
Artful: The Gallery, 526C Cumberland Rd., Courtneay
Cumberland Museum, 2680 Dunsmuir Ave., Cumberland
The Abbey, 3273 First St., Cumberland
Schedule
Friday 8/22
7 PM – 10:30 PM | Watershed Press: book launch & literary evening. Lorin Medley, On the Way to Kluusms. Cascadian Zen writers, Cascadian Zen Volume II. Venue - Artful: The Gallery. Cost: $20 or Cedar Pass, Copper Pass
Saturday 8/23
9 AM – 11 AM | Robert Bringhurst, Cascadian Languages and Literatures. Venue – Cumberland Museum. Cost $30 or Cedar Pass, Copper Pass
1 PM – 2:30 PM | Jan Zwicky, Workshop: The Music of Language. Venue – The Abbey. Cost $75 or Copper Pass
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM | What is a bioregional poetry practice? Jan Zwicky, Garry Gottfriedson, Harold Rhenisch. Venue – The Abbey. Cost: $30 or Copper Pass
7 PM – 12 AM | Readings. Keynote: Robert Bringhurst. Cascadia 2050. Open mic. Venue – The Abbey. Cost: $30 or Cedar Pass, Copper Pass
Sunday 8/24
10 AM – 12 PM | Harold Rhenisch Workshop, Language as Ancestral Gift. Venue – The Abbey. Cost $75 or Copper Pass
12 PM – 12:30 PM | Closing. Reading by Paul E. Nelson. Venue – The Abbey. Suggestion donation of $10 or Cedar Pass, Copper Pass
Tickets available at the door
Cascadian Zen on Quadra Island
Cascadian Zen on Quadra Island
A launch of Cascadian Zen Volume One
With readings by Jan Zwicky, Robert Bringhurst, Paul Nelson, Jason Wirth, and Adelia MacWilliam.
A Weekend of Cascadian Zen: Cumberland
A Weekend of Cascadian Zen: Cumberland
Watershed Press celebrates the Cumberland launch of Cascadian Zen Volume I
August 24 & 25, featuring talks by poets, philosphers, and an indigenous elder, along with poetry readings and a poetry workshop. A project of the Cascadia Poetics LAB.
Schedule
Saturday 8/24
2 PM – 4:30 PM – A poetry workshop by Seattle poet Paul Nelson, “Poetics as Cosmology” (a workshop on spontaneous composition). Cost: $24-$75
7 PM – 9 PM – A talk, “What is Cascadian Zen?” by the editors of Cascadian Zen (Wirth, Nelson, and MacWilliam). Followed by readings by contributors to the Cascadian Zen anthology and drinks afterward at the Waverly Pub. Suggested donation of $15.00
Sunday 8/25
10 AM – 12 PM – A talk by Indigenous elder Wedlidi Speck, Wedlidi is a member of the Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay and hereditary Head chief of the G’ixsam Clan of the Kwakiutl proper. Suggested donation of $15.00
2 PM – 4 PM – A talk by award-winning poet and philosopher Jan Zwicky on nature poetry and lyric. Suggested donation of $15.00.
Cascadian Zen: Mountain Rain Zen Community
What is Cascadian Zen?
A talk and reading with the three editors of Cascadian Zen Volume One, Paul Nelson, Jason Wirth, and Adelia MacWilliam accompanied by Daphne Marlatt.
