FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 15, 2024
Contact: Paul E. Nelson pen@cascadiapoeticslab.org

Cascadia Poetics Lab Celebrates 30th Anniversary

By Veronica Martinez, Cascadia Poetics Lab Administrative Assistant

Seattle-based poetry nonprofit Cascadia Poetics Lab is celebrating 30 years of poetry and bioregionalism in Cascadia! The nonprofit will be celebrating their 30th anniversary, along with the release of their new collection Cascadian Prophets, at the Columbia City Gallery on February 2nd, 2024 at 7 p.m. This celebration is open to the public!

Cascadia Poetics Lab was founded under a different name in Auburn, WA in 1993 by poet, educator and interviewer Paul E. Nelson with the initial intention of creating a weekly, syndicated radio public affairs interview program. When the nonprofit changed its name to Cascadia Poetics Lab in 2021, the mission was changed to “empowering people to practice poetry and deepen connections to place, self and the present moment.” It is the belief of the organization that self-knowledge, bioregionalism and expansive creativity converges through poetry, and they follow this mission by hosting workshops and poetry festivals to expose participants to community, education and transformation through poetry. Cascadia Poetics Lab hosts workshops throughout the year, along the Cascadia Poetry Festival and the Poetry Postcard Festival. In 2023, the nonprofit established its own publisher Watershed Press, through which they published the poetry and art anthology Cascadian Zen Vol. I, edited by Paul E. Nelson, Dr. Jason Wirth and Adelia MacWilliam. The nonprofit plans to publish Cascadian Zen Vol. II in 2024, and is currently working to establish a writer’s retreat house and bioregional knowledge center on the Olympic Peninsula entitled Kagean Ni.

The 30th anniversary event will also be a celebration of the publication of Cascadian Prophets (Interviews 1999-2023), a collection of interviews conducted by Paul Nelson and featuring influential writers, artists and scholars of the Cascadia bioregion. The interviews were selected and edited by Canadian poet Sharon Thesen, who will be featured at the event alongside Paul Nelson, Dr. Jason Wirth and Dr. Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs. Celebrate 30 years of poetry and place in Cascadia with Cascadia Poetics Lab on February 2, 2024 at 7pm at the Columbia City Gallery! More information about this event at other Cascadia Poetics Lab offerings is available through cascadiapoeticslab.org.

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Cascadia Poetics Lab, a Seattle-based nonprofit, was founded in Auburn, Washington, on December 14, 1993. Founding Director Paul E. Nelson is available for interviews. (206) 422.5002 or pen@cascadiapoeticslab.org