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

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

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.