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
Cumberland Readings - Sunday
Watershed Press Cumberland Readings
Venue
The Masonic Lodge
2687 Dunsmuir Ave, Cumberland, BC
Schedule
Saturday 8/15/2026
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM | Talk by Jason Wirth on the poetry of Jan Zwicky. Jan Swicky and Garth Martens will read “Say It” followed by a question period.
Sunday 8/16/2026
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Living room: Local poets share their work.
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM | Garth Martens will read from his new book: Who Else in the Dark Headed There. Robert Bringhurst reading and launch of Buying the Ghosts a Drink.
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM | Warm up readings by local contributors to the Cascadian Zen anthology (5 minutes each). Followed by readings by Robert Michael Pyle and James Dott.
Readers
Robert Bringhurst
Jan Zwicky
Garth Martens
Jason Wirth
By donation.
For Additional Information
Adelia MacWilliam
adelia.macwiliam@gmail.com
Garth Martens is the author of Prologue for the Age of Consequence and Who Else in the Dark Headed There. For his first book, he was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. He is also a co-founder of Palabra Flamenco, a literary flamenco ensemble. He lives in Victoria, BC.
Robert Bringhurst is a poet, essayist, linguist, translator, and typographer. Incidentally, he is also a pretty good carpenter, forester, mountaineer, and field naturalist who has worked for extended periods in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He was born in Los Angeles in 1946 and has lived on the British Columbia coast for fifty years. Along the way, he has written a number of books, both poetry and prose.
Cumberland Readings - Saturday
Watershed Press Cumberland Readings
Venue
The Masonic Lodge
2687 Dunsmuir Ave, Cumberland, BC
Schedule
Saturday 8/15/2026
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM | Talk by Jason Wirth on the poetry of Jan Zwicky. Jan Swicky and Garth Martens will read “Say It” followed by a question period.
Sunday 8/16/2026
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Living room: Local poets share their work.
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM | Garth Martens will read from his new book: Who Else in the Dark Headed There. Robert Bringhurst reading and launch of Buying the Ghosts a Drink.
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM | Warm up readings by local contributors to the Cascadian Zen anthology (5 minutes each). Followed by readings by Robert Michael Pyle and James Dott.
Readers
Robert Bringhurst
Jan Zwicky
Garth Martens
Jason Wirth
By donation.
For Additional Information
Adelia MacWilliam
adelia.macwiliam@gmail.com
Garth Martens is the author of Prologue for the Age of Consequence and Who Else in the Dark Headed There. For his first book, he was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. He is also a co-founder of Palabra Flamenco, a literary flamenco ensemble. He lives in Victoria, BC.
Robert Bringhurst is a poet, essayist, linguist, translator, and typographer. Incidentally, he is also a pretty good carpenter, forester, mountaineer, and field naturalist who has worked for extended periods in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He was born in Los Angeles in 1946 and has lived on the British Columbia coast for fifty years. Along the way, he has written a number of books, both poetry and prose.
Cascadian Zen - Tea Ceremony | Readings of Poetry and Prose
Cascadian Zen
Tea Ceremony
Readings of Poetry and Prose
Venue
Beaver Point Community Hall
1361 Beaver Point Road, Salt Spring Island, BC
Schedule
Friday, August 14, 2026
3:30-4:30 PM - Forest Awakening: Performance Installation
4:30-6:30 PM - Reading
Featured Readers
With Local Contributors to the Cascadian Zen Anthology
Peter Levitt
Shirley Graham
Adelia MacWilliam
Briony Penn
Ann Graham Walker
Ursula Vaira
Jason Wirth
Dan Clarkson
For additional information:
Adelia MacWilliam
adelia.macwiliam@gmail.com
Forest Awakening: Performance Installation
Presented by MOVE37XR in collaboration with Of Sound Minds and the WEN,NÁ,NEC Place-based Residency
In the cedar grove just meters from Beaver Point Hall, transdisciplinary artist and immersive field designer Pravin Pillay and artist and tea specialist Jennifer Maksymetz (Tea Mistress) present Forest Awakening—a live data-poetic performance and tea ceremony rooted in the living ecology of our temperate rainforest, with sonic contributions by composer Matt Robertson.
Ecological data and field recordings are woven into an evolving sonic environment, transforming the rhythms and signals of the land into sound, texture, and presence. Through the quiet aesthetics and attentive gestures of the tea ceremony, poets and guests are invited to slow down, listen deeply, and enter into a more intimate relationship with themselves, one another, and the living world.
Come anytime after 3:30 p.m. to experience Forest Awakening and settle in for the readings, which begin at 4:30 p.m.
Pravin Pillay is a transdisciplinary artist, researcher, educator, and Creative Director of MOVE37XR. A Community Fellow at York University’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, he investigates immersive storytelling as a way to engage planetary health, bioregional knowledge, and interspecies relationships. He holds an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan, where he explored human-computer interaction and systems-based art. Pillay lives and works on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Resonator sound system provided by
Of Sound Minds
Sound Art and Experimental Music
Jennifer Maksymetz (Tea Mistress) has been studying tea and practicing Gongfu tea ceremony since 2000. She has travelled extensively through renowned tea regions, studying with tea masters and sourcing exceptional teas directly from farmers. Jennifer co-founded Jade Spring Teas, the official tea shop of the Journal of Chinese Medicine, and has taught tea ceremony since 2012 in settings ranging from intimate tearooms to international arts festivals and cultural institutions. Holding an MA in Arts and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, her work explores tea ceremony as a contemporary ritual for cultivating presence, restoring attention, and reclaiming personal agency. She lives and teaches on Salt Spring Island, BC.
Peninsula College Poetry Reading with Robert Michael Pyle & James Dott
Robert Michael Pyle and Nirvana guitarist Krist Novoselic performing “Bretz’s Flood” at Peninsula College
Peninsula College Poetry Reading with Robert Michael Pyle & James Dott
Celebrating Robert Michael Pyle’s Swimming with Snakes and James Dott’s Touch Wood
Reading at Eagle Harbor Books
Reading at Eagle Harbor Books
Featuring Robert Michael Pyle and James Dott
More readings by Robert Michael Pyle: facebook
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.
