2020 Fest Postponed ‘Til 2021

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Splabman

This went out today:

Dear Cascadia Poetry Festival Participant,

I am sending out an email to participants, volunteers, patrons and organizers.

The SPLAB Board voted unanimously last night to POSTPONE the 2020 fest until 2021. The COVID-19 virus is the main factor. My own personal health is another. I was diagnosed with intermediate prostate cancer a month ago and am planning treatment once the insurance signs off on the method I have chosen. I expect a full recovery, but I am told I may not have the same energy and so the two events have forced us to take this drastic step.

Can you make it on April 30-May 2, 2021? We need to get your confirmation. We plan to have as much of the programming NEXT YEAR as we planned for 2020, so please let me know. I have some confirmations via phone, so some elements will be in place, just delayed one year. Registration for 2021 IS OPEN: Buy tickets for Cascadia Poetry Festival – San Juan Island – 2021

We will also need help in getting out the word to ensure sales of 50 Gold Passes for 2021. I will let current Gold Pass Holders know we can set them up for 2021, or give them a refund.

In the meantime, SPLAB will be working on the re-boot of PoPo, the August Poetry Postcard Festival. The new site will be here: https://popo.cards/ feel free to send this to your lists.

I also hope to see you APRIL 11, 2020 at the launch of my expanded edition of A Time Before Slaughter/Pig War: & Other Songs of Cascadia. See: http://www.openpoetrybooks.com/event/book-launch-a-time-before-slaughter-10th-anniversary-edition-by-paul-nelson/

Thanks for being a part of this work.

Sincerely,

Paul E Nelson

About Splabman

Poet & interviewer Paul E Nelson founded SPLAB (Seattle Poetics LAB) & the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Since 1993, SPLAB has produced hundreds of poetry events & 600 hours of interview programming with legendary poets & whole systems activists including Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, Robin Blaser, Diane di Prima, Daphne Marlatt, Nate Mackey, George Bowering, Barry McKinnon, José Kozer, Brenda Hillman & many others. Paul’s books include American Prophets (interviews 1994-2012) (2018) American Sentences (2015) A Time Before Slaughter (2009) and Organic in Cascadia: A Sequence of Energies (2013). Co-Editor of Make It True: Poetry From Cascadia (2015), 56 Days of August: Poetry Postcards (2017) and Samthology: A Tribute to Sam Hamill (2019) Make it True meets Medusario (2019), he’s presented poetry/poetics in London, Brussels, Nanaimo, Qinghai & Beijing, China, has had work translated into Spanish, Chinese & Portuguese & writes an American Sentence every day. Awarded a residency at The Lake, from the Morris Graves Foundation in Loleta, CA, he’s published work in Golden Handcuffs Review, Zen Monster, Hambone, and elsewhere. Winner of the 2014 Robin Blaser Award from The Capilano Review, he is engaged in a 20 year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia and lives in Rainier Beach, in the Cascadia bioregion’s Cedar River watershed.
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4 Responses to 2020 Fest Postponed ‘Til 2021

  1. Martha Kaplan says:
    March 8, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    Dear Paul,
    Just one more wish for the best possible on your prostate cancer choices and outcomes, among what I sure is a deluge of good wishes. You bring so much to po world; world world. Besides, a return trip to Door Co. is a must.

    With care and respect––

  2. Splabman says:
    March 8, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    Bless you Martha. I have been awarded a residency at Write ON Door County Oct 19-25, 2020. I hope to see you.

    Huge thanks for your kind words,

    Paul

  3. Mark d. Johnson says:
    March 30, 2020 at 10:27 am

    Dear Paul , I am wishing you a whole heap of healing for your medical treatments.
    best wishes that you bounce back fit as a fiddle. Blessings

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