4 Days to Cascadia Poetry Festival

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Splabman

cpf_poster16printThe fourth Cascadia Poetry Festival begins Thursday and we invite you to be part of the conversation. This post serves as a primer for some of the key opportunities.

Gold Passes for entry into all events (except workshops and the Slam) are $35 and available at Brown Paper Tickets. Admission for single events is $10 and available at the door. Purchasing a Gold Pass allows us to bring poets from all over Cascadia to the festival, house them, feed them and pay them a modest stipend to help us celebrate this remarkable place.

The fest has four major components: Academic, Democratic, Performative and Late Night/Party.

The Academic portion features panels and workshops. Two workshops happen Friday morning: Poetic habitat now, featuring legendary Vancouver poet Daphne Marlatt and Handmade Artist Books (The Basics) featuring Portland poet Marilyn Stablein, who was active in the literary arts community in Seattle for many years. There are also two panels: Water and the Legacy of Denise Levertov. The Levertov panel features Sam Hamill, Daphne Marlatt, Brenda Hillman and Tim McNulty. The panels start at 9 and 10:30 Saturday respectively.

The Democratic portion of the fest is Living Room, a chance for poets of all ages and levels of accomplishment to read their own work in a circle format. It will happen from 3-5pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Performative aspects of the fest are represented by Main Stage readings Thursday through Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 4 at Open Books and via the Cascadia Regional Poetry Slam, happening Saturday the 5th at 7pm at Black & Tan, 5608 Rainier Av. S.

common-area-maintenanceThe Late Night event is the After Party, Friday and Saturday, from 10p to 12M at Common Area Maintenance, 2125 Second Avenue in Seattle. Poets from the Academic, Experimental, Lyric, Slam and other traditions/styles will read one poem each in a fast-paced and lively atmosphere. Beer is provided by Naked City.

A Small Press Fair happens Saturday, from 12N-5pm in the Reception Hall of the Spring Street Center. Among the confirmed participants are Talon Books (Vancouver), PageBoy Magazine, Entré Rios Press, Louis Collins Books, Cascadia College and others.

We’re grateful to 4Culture, Cascadia College, Poets and Writers, Cascadia Now, the Tacoma Poetry Festival and all the sponsors and supporters of the festival.

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Marlatt and Stablein Workshops

Posted on October 23, 2016 by Splabman

There are two remarkable workshops being offered at the 4th Cascadia Poetry Festival in Seattle, November 3-6. Both are on Friday morning, November 4. Space is limited for both workshops.

Daphne Marlatt, the remarkable Vancouver poet associated with the TISH group of the early 60s and noted feminist, will facilitate: Poetic habitat now

Daphne Marlatt

Daphne Marlatt

What might a biocentric poem look and sound like? What would happen to a writer’s subjectivity in such writing? How might what Denise Levertov calls “the poetry of linguistic impulse” enact the habitat of both poem and earth/world?  Bring a poem (in any form) you might have written in response to these open-ended questions.  We will explore what such questions and their concerns bring up in the process of writing. (More details here.)

Class is limited to 15 participants and up to two scholarships. It will be conducted 9a-12N on Friday, November 4. Admission is $80 and you can register at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2556264 Workshop admission does not include a Gold Pass to the festival.

Listen to an interview Paul Nelson did with Marlatt here.

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Handmade Artist Books-Learn the Explosion Book & variations. No experience necessary.

Friday Morning, November 4, 2016, 9a-12n. Limit: eight participants. Registration fee: $45. Register here. Facilitator Marilyn Stablein.

Marilyn Stablein at her Small Press Fair booth for Book Art Editions at the festival in Nanaimo, British Columbia. May 2015

Marilyn Stablein at her Small Press Fair booth for Book Art Editions at the festival in Nanaimo, British Columbia. May 2015

This workshop will be useful to writers, artists and anyone interested in discovering alternative ways to display work either in unique one-of-a-kind presentations or to consider ways to self publish small editions of their writing, art or a combination of both.  The workshop will begin with a presentation of three basic book structures that anyone can make.  We will then make the books and discuss optional ways to illustrate or insert personal memorabilia and/or written work.  Writing examples could be a poem, a favorite quotation, or an excerpt from a travel or nature journal.  Another option is to leave the books blank for future projects or to give as gifts.   

More info here: http://cascadiapoetryfestival.org/handmade-artist-books/

Listen to an interview with Marilyn Stablein here.

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Free Online Cascadia Poetry Course

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Splabman

mooc-coverOur second Massive Open Online Course begins tomorrow and runs four weeks through the Canvas portal. The course is being taught by Cascadia College teacher Jared Leising, in association with SPLAB, and is timed to coincide with the 4th Cascadia Poetry Festival. Week three, which happens the same week of the fest, will focus on Denise Levertov.

The course is free and when it was taught for the first time, earlier this year, there were over 450 students around the world enrolled. Please consider joining us. From the course:

Course Description

This is an investigation of the bioregion known as Cascadia (Links to an external site.), using poetry as the main modality for our inquiry.

In doing so, we will focus on the poetic innovators of the region, like Sam Hamill, Gary Snyder, Denise Levertov, Daphne Marlatt, and Stephen Collis, as well as less established poets, to serve as the core of this course.

The course will be organized around four modules, which will include an Introduction to Cascadia Poetics, the Reed College Poets, the Cascadia Poetry Festival (which is happening November 3-6 in Seattle), and New Directions.

 

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CPF4 (Seattle 2016) Press Release

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Splabman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (pdf)

CASCADIA POETRY FESTIVAL TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 3-6 IN SEATTLE
Schedule includes Public Readings, Workshops and a Tribute to Denise Levertov.

Seattle, WA, October 15, 2016— The Cascadia Poetry Festival is an international event which gathers writers, artists, scientists and activists to collaborate, discover and foster deeper connection between all inhabitants and the place itself. On November 3-6, 2016, the 4th festival will take place at Spring Street Center in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, 1101 15th at the corner of 15th & Spring.

Daphne Marlatt, Brenda Hillman, Sam Hamill, Colleen McElroy, Marilyn Stablein, Judith Roche, Sarah DeLeeuw, JM Miller, Roger Fernandez, Tim McNulty, Erin Fristad, Jordan Abel and Peter Munro are among the confirmed performers. The festival will honor the memory of Denise Levertov and there will be a panel discussion on her work and legacy Saturday morning at 10:30. A ritual walk to her grave in the morning on Sunday, November 6.

A Gold Pass is $35.00 gets you into all festival events EXCEPT for workshops, and Slam, which must be booked separately. Tickets can be purchased via Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2556264

Daphne Marlatt leads a workshop Poetic habitat now on Friday, Nov 4 at 9am.
Marilyn Stablein facilitates a workshop Handmade Artist Books-Learn the Explosion Book & variations. No experience necessary. Also on Friday, Nov 4 at 9am. There will also be a Small Press Fair from 12N-5pm on Saturday, November 5.

There will be a Cascadia Invitational Poetry Slam as part of the fest, held at Black & Tan Hall in the Hillman City neighborhood, Friday and Saturday, November 5 & 6. 5608 Rainier Av S., just north of Orcas. 7:00pm.

The After Party, the late night reading mixing genres and allowing participants one poem each, expands to two nights, Friday and Saturday, and will be staged at Common Area Maintenance, 2125 2nd Avenue in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Admission by Gold Pass or $10. Matthew Trease and Greg Bem are curators and hosts.

The Cascadia Poetry Festival was founded by SPLAB, a Seattle-based non-profit organization founded in 1993 and the first iteration happened in 2012. Cascadia 2 happened at Seattle U and Spring Street Center in Seattle (2014) and Cascadia 3 was staged in Nanaimo, BC, in 2015. www.splab.org
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For more information, contact Paul Nelson at 206-422-5002 or splabman@gmail.com
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2556264 www.CascadiaPoetryFestival.org

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