Seattle's Cascadia Poetics Lab is set to host the 10th Anniversary Cascadia Poetry Festival from October 9-11, 2026, at the Rainier Beach Community Club and Kubota Garden. The event, which has become a cornerstone for poets and bioregionalists, will feature a series of workshops, panel discussions, and readings that probe the intersection of poetry with environmental, political, and social concerns within the Cascadia bioregion.
The festival's core mission is to consider how prioritizing natural and cultural boundaries over arbitrary political ones can offer new perspectives on climate change and other pressing issues. This year's lineup includes a diverse array of voices such as allia abdullah-matta, Greg Bem, Amaranth Borsuk, Bill Carty, Xavier Cavazos, Zach Charles, Ching-in Chen, Stephen Collis, Gary Copeland Lilley, Tess Gallagher, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Geneviève Hicks, Alicia Hokanson, Nadine Maestas, Dion O'Reilly, Roxi Power, Mateo Quispe, Linda Russo, Sharon Thesen, Miriam Tobin, Rodrigo Toscano, Matt Trease, and Terri Witek.
Workshops will cover topics like bioregional poetics, poetry as politics, lyric and form, the connection between internal and external worlds, and poetry in times of crisis. Sessions include 'Startling the Poem Awake,' 'Flickers of the Poetic, A Watch Party,' 'Concerning Work and Poetry (of Course the Mundane is Generative!),' 'The Green Being,' and 'Cascadia as a Field of Action (Poetry as Politics).' Evening afterparties will be held on Friday and Saturday nights at a nearby location in Rainier Beach.
The festival is supported by a range of sponsors, including 4Culture Sustained Support and 4Culture Public Free Access, Creative West, the Vogt Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, ArtsFund, La Sala, and CPL Supporters. Registration for gold passes, workshop packages, reading packages, and student passes is available via the festival website. More information on the festival and Cascadia Poetics Lab's offerings can be found on their main site, and a complete schedule is available online.
Founded in Auburn, Washington, on December 14, 1993, Cascadia Poetics Lab has been a driving force in fostering poetic expression tied to the region's identity. Founding Director Paul E. Nelson is available for interviews, but the festival itself underscores a growing movement that views poetry as a vital tool for ecological and political awareness. As the festival celebrates its tenth year, it highlights the enduring relevance of bioregional thinking in cultural discourse.
