Contact: Paul Nelson                                                                                      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: 206-422-5002
E-mail: pen@splab.org

SPLAB TO CELEBRATE 20^Th ANNIVERSARY JANUARY 18th IN SEATTLE
(Event Includes Announcement of Cascadia Poetry Festival Lineup for May 2014)

Seattle, WA, January 6, 2014—SPLAB was founded in 1993 in Auburn, Washington, by poet/interviewer Paul E. Nelson and moved in August, 2009, in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood. Over the past 20 years, SPLAB has brought many renowned poets to the Puget Sound Region, including Anne Waldman, Andrew Schelling, Michael McClure, Wanda Coleman, Jerome Rothenberg, Eileen Myles, Ethelbert Miller, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Joanne Kyger, and others, staged several Super Bowl of Poetry events, the annual Allen Ginsberg Open Mic Poetry Marathon, conducted over 500 interviews and organized the 1^st annual Cascadia Poetry Festival in Seattle in 2012.

SPLAB celebrates its 20^th anniversary with help from local poet Judith Roche, and will announce the lineup for the 2^nd Cascadia Poetry Festival, to be held May 1-4, 2014 on the campus of Seattle University and at the Spring Street Center.

The anniversary celebration will also be held at Spring Street Center, 1101 15^th Avenue in Seattle, beginning at 7pm. The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted. Registration for the festival will also be available at the event.

The Cascadia Poetry Festival is an international event which seeks to bioregionally animate & culturally construct Cascadia by gathering writers, artists, scientists and activists to collaborate, discover and foster deeper connection between all inhabitants and the place itself. On May 1-4, 2014, renowned and  emerging poets from the region will present talks on Cascadian culture and illustrate how that is presented in the best poetry of the region..

For more SPLAB event information, visit www.splab.org.

For more festival information, visit www.CascadiaPoetryFestival.org