Seattle's Cascadia Poetics Lab will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Cascadia Poetry Festival from October 9-11, 2026, at the Rainier Beach Community Club and Kubota Garden. The festival, which brings together poets and bioregionalists, aims to explore how poetry can address environmental, political, historical, and sociological issues within the Cascadia bioregion. By prioritizing natural and cultural boundaries over arbitrary political ones, the festival seeks to contribute to solutions for climate change and other pressing social and political challenges.
The event will feature a diverse lineup of prominent poets and academics, including 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 participants will lead writing workshops, panel discussions, and readings that delve into bioregional poetics, poetry as politics, lyric and form, the interplay between internal and external worlds, and poetry's role in times of crisis.
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 creative and critical thinking about the intersection of poetry and place. Additionally, an afterparty will be held on Friday and Saturday nights at a nearby location in Rainier Beach, offering further opportunities for networking and community building.
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, 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 of events is available at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2026-cascadia-poetry-festival-10-schedule/.
As the festival marks its tenth year, its significance extends beyond poetry. The emphasis on bioregionalism—a framework that aligns human activities with ecological boundaries—speaks directly to contemporary concerns about climate change and political fragmentation. By fostering dialogue among poets, scholars, and community members, the festival encourages creative responses to environmental and social crises. The event's location at Kubota Garden, a Japanese garden in Seattle, underscores the connection between natural beauty and artistic expression.
Cascadia Poetics Lab, founded in Auburn, Washington, on December 14, 1993, has been a hub for poetic exploration and community engagement. The nonprofit's ongoing work, including this festival, highlights the vital role of the arts in shaping public discourse. As the festival celebrates its anniversary, it reaffirms the power of poetry to inspire action and reflection in an era of urgent global challenges.
