Seattle-based nonprofit Cascadia Poetics Lab has announced the 10th Anniversary Cascadia Poetry Festival, scheduled for October 9-11, 2026. The event will bring together poets, academics, and bioregionalists to examine poetry's connection to environmental, political, historical, and sociological concerns within the Cascadia bioregion. According to the organization, the festival aims to consider how prioritizing natural and cultural boundaries—rather than arbitrary political ones—can address climate change and other pressing social and political issues.
The festival will take place at the Rainier Beach Community Club and Kubota Garden, featuring writing workshops, panel discussions, and readings from a diverse lineup of prominent poets and scholars. Featured speakers include 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 explore a range of topics, including bioregional poetics, poetry as politics, lyric and form, the connection between internal and external worlds, and poetry in times of crisis. Specific workshops 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)." An afterparty will be hosted on Friday and Saturday nights at a nearby location in Rainier Beach.
The festival is supported by 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 now open via the festival website at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2026-cascadia-poetry-festival-10/. A complete schedule is available at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2026-cascadia-poetry-festival-10-schedule/. More information about Cascadia Poetics Lab and its offerings can be found at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/.
This year's festival underscores the growing relevance of bioregionalism in cultural and political discourse. By focusing on the Cascadia bioregion—which spans parts of the Pacific Northwest and extends into Canada—the event highlights how poetry can foster deeper connections to place and community. The festival's emphasis on climate change comes at a critical time, as communities worldwide grapple with environmental challenges. Through workshops and discussions, participants will explore how creative expression can contribute to ecological awareness and social change.
The 10th anniversary also marks a milestone for Cascadia Poetics Lab, which was founded in Auburn, Washington, on December 14, 1993. Founding Director Paul E. Nelson is available for interviews, but this article does not include contact details. The festival's continued growth reflects a sustained interest in integrating the arts with environmental and political activism, offering a platform for poets and thinkers to engage with urgent issues of our time.
