On May 9-12, 2019, SPLAB honors the life and legacy of Sam Hamill at our Cascadia Poetry Festival. One of Sam’s best moments was at the Fest we helped coordinate in Nanaimo, BC, when Sam was dragging around an oxygen tank so he could breathe. And yet what a performance he gave!

We have produced versions of the Cascadia Poetry Festival in Seattle (2012, 2014, 2016), in Tacoma in 2017, helped others create versions of this festival in Nanaimo (2015) and Cumberland, BC, (2017) and have staged retreats, hundreds of poetry events, produced hundreds of interviews of poets, whole-systems activists and indigenous people culminating in the book American Prophets which was launched in December 2018 at SPLAB’s 25th Anniversary.

The August Poetry Postcard Fest has happened for 12 years, giving participants a self-guided crash course in spontaneous composition and sense of community and will kick off year 13 on July 4.

We have created two poetry anthologies Make It True: Poetry From Cascadia and 56 Days of August: Poetry Postcards. Two more anthologies are being launched at CPF-Anacortes, 2019, Make it True meets Medusario and the Samthology: A Tribute to Sam Hamill.

Give Big is here again, running May 8, 2019, and we’re delighted to be part of this, humbled by past support and hoping you’ll consider supporting this small literary arts organization that has done so much with so little for over 25 years. Thanks for considering. No gift is too small.