30 years of Cascadia Poetics Lab!
On Friday, February 2, 2024, Cascadia Poetics Lab hosted a celebration for our 30th anniversary as a nonprofit at the Columbia City Gallery in Seattle, WA! We also celebrated the publication of our second collection of transcribed interviews, Cascadian Prophets (Interviews 1999-2023), edited by Sharon Thesen. The event included speeches by board members Prof. Jason Wirth, Ricardo Ruiz and Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Poetry Postcard Festival committee members Sally Hedges-Blanquez and Zach Charles, Cascadian Prophets editor Sharon Thesen, and the one and only CPL founder Paul E. Nelson. It was beautiful night honoring the amazing legacy and work of Paul Nelson and Cascadia Poetics Lab, the community that has been formed through this nonprofit, and all the exciting work that is to come. Hear audio of the event here.
It was wonderful to see the venue filled for this event, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone that attended and celebrated our work with us. Thank you to Columbia City Gallery for hosting the event, to all the speakers, and to everyone that continues to follow us and support this work! May our 31st year (and on) bring many more moments full of poetry and community!
Jason Wirth presenting Sharon Thesen’s chapbook Olson and Love, published by Watershed Press
Ricardo Ruiz presenting at the 30th anniversary celebration
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs at the 30th anniversary celebration
Zach Charles and Sally Hedges-Blanquez discussing the Poetry Postcard Fest
Sharon Thesen discussing Cascadian Prophets and her role as editor.
Zach Charles, Ursula Vaira, Diana Elser, Cate Gable, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Paul Nelson, Adelia MacWilliam, Jason Wirth, Dan Clarkson, Veronica Martinez,
Lorna Dee Cervantes, Sally Hedges-Blanquez and Matt Trease at the 30th Anniversary Celebration!
So honored to be part of this community.
A beautiful space with beautiful people with words, art, poems and wine, what else could we ask for?