SEATTLE, WA — The Cascadia Poetics Lab will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Cascadia Poetry Festival from October 9-11, 2026, at the Rainier Beach Community Club and Kubota Garden. The festival, which has become a cornerstone for poets and bioregionalists, will feature workshops, panel discussions, and readings from a diverse lineup of voices from the Cascadia bioregion and beyond.
This year's festival emphasizes the intersection of poetry with environmental, political, historical, and sociological concerns. The organizers aim to highlight how focusing on natural and cultural boundaries, rather than arbitrary political ones, can offer new perspectives on climate change and other urgent social issues. This approach has been central to the festival since its inception, and the 10th anniversary promises to deepen that exploration.
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. These poets and academics will lead workshops and readings that delve into various aspects of poetic practice and its societal relevance.
Workshops scheduled for the festival 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).” These sessions are designed to engage participants in the practical and theoretical aspects of bioregional poetics, poetry as a form of political expression, and the role of poetry in times of crisis. Evening afterparties will be held on Friday and Saturday nights at nearby venues 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, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, ArtsFund, La Sala, and CPL Supporters. This backing underscores the festival's significance in the cultural landscape of the region.
Registration for gold passes, workshop packages, reading packages, and student passes is now open on the festival website: https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2026-cascadia-poetry-festival-10/. A complete schedule of events is available at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2026-cascadia-poetry-festival-10-schedule/. More information about Cascadia Poetics Lab and its other programs can be found at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/.
As the festival marks a decade of bringing poetry and bioregionalism together, it continues to offer a platform for critical dialogue on the role of art in addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. The event not only celebrates poetic craft but also reinforces the importance of regional identity and ecological consciousness in cultural production.
