A selection of poetry (and occasionally other literary) events going on in the Cascadia region (primarily Washington state) with links for more information. Some events may involve fees or admission charges. Information is current to the best of our knowledge; please confirm with venues. To add your event to the calendar, send an email to thepoetrydepartment at gmail with the following information (required): date, city, brief description, time, venue, link for more information.
Mondays in Bellingham – poetrynight featured poet and open mic (new venue starting June 2018; check Facebook for latest information)
Mondays in Everett – Poetry Laboratory open mic at Black Lab Art Gallery
Mondays in Seattle – Easy Speak Seattle hosts a featured reader and open mic the 2nd and 4th Monday
Mondays in Vancouver, BC – Vancouver Poetry Slam (VanSlam) feature plus open mic at Café Deux Soleils; more on Facebook
Tuesdays in Seattle – Seattle Poetry Slam presents a featured poet plus open mic and slam at Re-bar
Wednesdays in Bellingham – Acoustic Wednesdays with host JD Falcon Grady featuring local artists and poets – 6:30pm at Greene’s Corner
Wednesdays in Seattle – Write Time Poetry, a weekly drop-in writing circle for teens at Hugo House (meets during the school year)
Wednesdays in Seattle – Rain City Slam: all-ages spoken word open mic, featured poet and poetry slam at Jai Thai on Broadway
Wednesdays in Spokane – Broken Mic featured poet plus open mic at Neato Burrito
Wednesdays in Vaughn – Watermark Writers’ Workshop – on the waterfront
Thursdays in Everett – Everett Poetry Night: poetry and acoustic music at Café Zippy
Thursdays in Olympia – the Old Growth Poetry Collective presents the Olympia People’s Mic with featured reader and open mic – at Ben Moore’s Restaurant
Thursdays in Salem, OR – The Salem Poetry Project presents a featured reader followed by open mic – 7:00pm – at Barrel & Keg
Fridays in Victoria, BC – Planet Earth Poetry featured poets plus open mic – 7:30pm – at Hillside Coffee and Tea
1-31 – August Poetry Postcard Fest
18 – Eugene, OR – Poetry for the People’s 3rd Saturday Reading Series with featured poets plus open mic – 5:00pm – at Tsunami Books
18 – Seattle – Annual Bradner Gardens Concert and Poetry Reading – 6:30pm – at Bradner Gardens
20 – BIRTHDAY – Heather McHugh
21 – Port Townsend – Third-Tuesday Poetry + Short-Shorts: an evening of 5-minute readings – 6:30pm – at Better Living Through Coffee
25 – Kent – 5th Annual Poets on the Farm – 1:00-4:00pm – at the Mary Olson Farm
25 – Portland, OR – Spare Room presents Eliza Rotterman, Liv Veazey, and Jules Boykoff – 7:00pm – at Passages Bookshop
25 – Seattle – Reading from the 2018 Best American Experimental Writing – 7:00pm – at Open Books
27 – Bellingham – Open Mic Night with Sean Dwyer – 7:00pm – at Village Books
27 – Tacoma – Commencement Bay Haiku Meeting – 5:00pm – at King’s Books
28 – BIRTHDAY – Rita Dove
28 – Bellingham – Reading for Cirque Journal – Mount Baker Theatre, Encore Room
5 – BIRTHDAY – Nicanor Parra
6 – Tulalip – First Thursday Poetry Series with featured poets and open mic – 6:00pm – at Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center Longhouse Room
7-9 – La Conner – Poets on the Coast
9 – Portland, OR – Poetry Reading at Lents Farmers Market – 9:30 – 10:15am – at Lents International Farmers Market
10 – BIRTHDAY – Mary Oliver
10 – Portland, OR – Free Range Poetry presents Judith Barrington, Francis Opila, and Leah Stenson – 6:00pm – at Northwest Library
10 – Seattle – African-American Writers’ Alliance Poetry Reading – 7:00pm – at Third Place Books, Seward Park
11 – BIRTHDAY – Ryler Dustin
12 – Portland, OR – Joshua Beckman: On The Porous Experience of Poems In Physical and Imaginative Space – 7:00pm – at Literary Arts
13 – Portland, OR – Slamlandia – 6:30pm – at Literary Arts
13 – Vancouver – Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic featuring Connecticut poet Reggie Marra – 7:00pm – at Angst Gallery
14 – Tacoma – Puget Sound Poetry Connection presents the Distinguished Writer Series, with featured writer plus open mic – 7:00pm – at Immanual Presbyterian
15 – Seattle – Reading with Quenton Baker, Lily Baumgart, and Claudia Castro Luna – 7:00pm – at Open Books
16 – Seattle – Poetry Book Launch for An Undercurrent of Jitters by Carol Levin – 3:00pm – at the Nordic Museum
18 – Port Townsend – Third-Tuesday Poetry + Short-Shorts: an evening of 5-minute readings – 6:30pm – at Better Living Through Coffee
19 – Bellingham – Creekside Open Mic – doors 6:00pm, poetry 6:30pm – at South Whatcom Library
19 – Olympia – Olympia Poetry Network monthly featured poet and open mic, this month featuring Glenna Cook – at 6:30pm – at Traditions Fair Trade
19 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
20 – Pendleton, OR – First Draft Writers’ Series – 7:00pm – at Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pearson Auditorium
21-22 – Bellingham – Bellingham SeaFeast presents the 3rd Annual FisherPoets on Bellingham Bay
22 – Seattle – Grand Opening celebration for Hugo House – at Hugo House
22 – Seattle – Reading from They Said: A Multi-Genre Anthology of Contemporary Collaborative Writing – 7:00pm – at Open Books
23 – Seattle – Reading with Norman Fischer, Joshua Edwards, and Catherine Bresner – 5:00pm – at Open Books
24 – Bellingham – Open Mic Night with Sean Dwyer – 7:00pm – at Village Books
27 – Seattle – Reading with Kevin Prufer & Megan Snyder-Camp – 7:00pm – at Open Books
28-30 – Tieton – LiTFUSE
29 – Everywhere – 100 Thousand Poets for Change
29-30 – Eugene, OR – The Oregon Poetry Association Annual Conference 2018 – at the Valley River Inn
3 – BIRTHDAY – Bill Porter (Red Pine)
4 – BIRTHDAY – James Bertolino
4 – Tulalip – First Thursday Poetry Series with featured poets and open mic – 6:00pm – at Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center Longhouse Room
5 – Seattle – Humanities Washington presents the 20th Anniversary of Seattle Bedtime Stories – 6:00pm – in the Spanish Ballroom at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel
5-7 – Edmonds – Write on the Sound Writers’ Conference
5-7 – Oceanside, OR – PDX Writers Autumn Retreat
8 – Seattle – African-American Writers’ Alliance Poetry Reading – 7:00pm – at Third Place Books, Seward Park
11 – Portland, OR – Slamlandia – 6:30pm – at Literary Arts
12 – Tacoma – Puget Sound Poetry Connection presents the Distinguished Writer Series, with featured writer plus open mic – 7:00pm – at Immanual Presbyterian
13 – Seattle – Double Book Launch Reading with Rae Armantrout & Graham Foust – 7:00pm – at Open Books
14 – BIRTHDAY – Ocean Vuong
15 – BIRTHDAY – Kim Stafford
16 – Port Townsend – Third-Tuesday Poetry + Short-Shorts: an evening of 5-minute readings – 6:30pm – at Better Living Through Coffee
16 – Seattle – [fee workshop] Merging Text and Image: Creating an Erasure Page – 6:30pm – at Open Books
17 – Bellingham – Creekside Open Mic – doors 6:00pm, poetry 6:30pm – at South Whatcom Library
17 – Olympia – Olympia Poetry Network monthly featured poet and open mic, this month featuring Glenna Cook – at 6:30pm – at Traditions Fair Trade
17 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
18 – Pendleton, OR – First Draft Writers’ Series – 7:00pm – at Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pearson Auditorium
19 – Bellingham – SpeakEasy 22 – 7:00pm – at the Mount Baker Theatre, Encore Room
19-21 – Surrey, BC – 26th annual Surrey International Writers’ Conference
20 – Seattle – New England Review at 40: An Anniversary Reading – 7:00pm – at Open Books
21 – Seattle – A Reading & Reception for Stealing Light: A Raven Chronicles Anthology – 2:00pm – at Seattle Central Library
26-28 – Bellevue – Emerald City Writers’ Conference – at Westin Hotel
29 – Bellingham – Open Mic Night with Sean Dwyer – 7:00pm – at Village Books
1-30 – everywhere – National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
1 – Tulalip – First Thursday Poetry Series with featured poets and open mic – 6:00pm – at Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center Longhouse Room
8 – Portland, OR – Slamlandia – 6:30pm – at Literary Arts
9 – Tacoma – Puget Sound Poetry Connection presents the Distinguished Writer Series, with featured writer plus open mic – 7:00pm – at Immanual Presbyterian
10 – Portland, OR – Portland Book Festival (formerly Wordstock) – Portland Art Museum and other venues
12 – Seattle – African-American Writers’ Alliance Poetry Reading – 7:00pm – at Third Place Books, Seward Park
15 – Pendleton, OR – First Draft Writers’ Series – 7:00pm – at Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pearson Auditorium
21 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
26 – Bellingham – Open Mic Night with Sean Dwyer – 7:00pm – at Village Books
2 – BIRTHDAY – Samuel Green
6 – Tulalip – First Thursday Poetry Series with featured poets and open mic – 6:00pm – at Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center Longhouse Room
10 – Seattle – African-American Writers’ Alliance Poetry Reading – 7:00pm – at Third Place Books, Seward Park
13 – Portland, OR – Slamlandia – 6:30pm – at Literary Arts
14 – Tacoma – Puget Sound Poetry Connection presents the Distinguished Writer Series, with featured writer plus open mic – 7:00pm – at Immanual Presbyterian
2 – BIRTHDAY – Jimmy Santiago Baca
9 – BIRTHDAY – Kelli Russell Agodon
13 – BIRTHDAY – Megan Snyder-Camp
16 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
17 – BIRTHDAY – William Stafford
20 – BIRTHDAY – Bruce Beasley
22 – BIRTHDAY – Luther Allen
1-28 – everywhere – National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo)
1 – BIRTHDAY – Joannie Stangeland
4 – BIRTHDAY – Elizabeth Vignali
6 – BIRTHDAY – Rena Priest
19 – BIRTHDAY – Rick Barot
20 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
25 – BIRTHDAY – Elizabeth J. Colen
27 – BIRTHDAY – Oliver de la Paz
1-31 – Whatcom County – Submissions open for Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest
1-31 – everywhere – National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo)
1 – BIRTHDAY – Brenda Miller
2 – Bellingham – SpeakEasy 23 – 7:00pm – at the Mount Baker Theatre, Encore Room
12 – BIRTHDAY – Naomi Shihab Nye
18 – BIRTHDAY – Wilfred Owen
20 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
23 – BIRTHDAY – Lana Hechtman Ayers
26 – BIRTHDAY – Patrick Lane
27 – BIRTHDAY – Julia Álvarez, Dorothea Lasky
27–30, Portland, OR – AWP #19 – at the Oregon Convention Center
1-30 – National Poetry Month and NaPoWriMo
4 – BIRTHDAY – Anita K. Boyle
11 – BIRTHDAY – Maria McLeod
17 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
23 – BIRTHDAY – Coleman Barks
25 – BIRTHDAY – Ted Kooser
28 – BIRTHDAYS – Carolyn Forché, Roberto Bolaño
29 – BIRTHDAY – Yusef Komunyakaa
9 – BIRTHDAY – Charles Simic, Dan Chiasson
12 – BIRTHDAY – Bernadette Mayer
15 – West Seattle – Words West Literary series – 7:00pm – at C & P Coffee Co
31 – BIRTHDAY – Walt Whitman
7 – BIRTHDAY – Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni
16 – Ireland & elsewhere – Bloomsday
21 – BIRTHDAY – Sheila Sondik
2 – BIRTHDAY – Wisława Szymborska
9 – BIRTHDAY – Susan Rich
16 – BIRTHDAY – Robert Lashley
31 – BIRTHDAY – Kim Addonizio
1-31 – August Poetry Postcard Fest
3 – BIRTHDAY – Diane Wakoski
5 – BIRTHDAY – Wendell Berry, Ron Silliman
November 7, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Hi: I’m with the Skagit River Poetry Foundation. How do we submit events to your calendar? Thanks!
November 7, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Have replied to you directly, but feel free to leave information here as comments, too. Thank you!
March 9, 2016 at 9:39 pm
Hi, I would love to submit a few events on behalf of Creative Colloquy, a literary journal based out of Tacoma, WA. Is it possible to get our Creative Colloquy call for submissions and upcoming events added?
March 12, 2016 at 10:27 am
Be delighted to include Creative Colloquy — and have in the past when I’ve happened across your events. Please check your email. I’ve sent you a note with details. Thanks!