18th Annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival on Saturday, September 28, in Berkeley

Watershed Logo by Shane Eagleton

I missed the the Sonoma County Book Festival over the weekend, but on my wall hangs a reminder of last year's festival as I purchased one of 150 broadsides printed by Poltroon Press for the annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival. The print features a lovely nature poem -- "July Notebook: The Birds" -- by Robert Hass (US Poet Laureate 1995-97) and an illustration of an egret by artist Jinny Pearce.

This Saturday is the 18th Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, a collaboration of Robert Hass, Poetry Flash, Ecology Center, Berkeley Farmers' Market, Ecocity Builders and in conjunction with 100 Thousand poets for Change, Pegasus Books Downtown, and Moe's Books! If you're in the Bay Area, hear Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and essayist Gary Snyder read! Here's the lineup from the official flyer:

Celebrate Writers, Nature & Community

Saturday, September 28, 2013, 10:00 a.m.

Strawberry Creek Walk meets at Oxford and Center Streets, Berkeley

A walk along beautiful Strawberry Creek on the UC Berkeley campus to the Watershed festival led by poet/eco-educator Chris Olander with featured readings by poets Jennifer Elise Foerster, Mary Mackey, Barbara Jane Reyes, John Shoptaw, and Tom Wilson, with commentary by a representative from Environmental Protection, Strawberry Creek restoration, UC Berkeley

Saturday, September 28, 2013
Noon to 4:30 p.m. • Free
Festival Main Stage • Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park • Berkeley
Next to the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, MLK Jr. Way at Center Street,
one block west of downtown Berkeley BART

Robert Hass • Gary Snyder • Brenda Hillman • Wang Jiaxin
Matthew Zapruder • giovanni singleton • Brian Teare
Jennifer Elise Foerster • Mary Mackey • Barbara Jane Reyes
John Shoptaw • Alan Soldofsky • Tom Wilson • Chris Olander
Ann Fisher-Wirth, co-editor of The Ecopoetry Anthology
eco-author Ozzie Zehner, Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism

World class jazz by The Barry Finnerty Trio 
K–12 student poets from California Poets in the Schools,
Poetry Inside Out and River of Words international poetry and art contest
will read under the guidance of poet-teachers
Maureen Hurley and John Oliver Simon

We Are Nature open reading
Enter lottery drawing for six three-minute reading slots at noon
(on site at Info Booth)

Hosts: Richard Silberg and Kirk Lumpkin (Ecology Center)
Books and Book Signing at the Pegasus Book Tent

River Village Literary & Environmental Exhibits
showcases exhibitors from East Bay Alternative Press Book and Zine Fest with Tomas Moniz; Poetree: Interactive Writing with Sharon Coleman, Milvia Streetliterary and art journal, and Kristi Moos, Poecology, a literary e-journal for writing about place, nature and the environment; Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, River of Words, and more.
Click here for Exhibitors info—trade exhibit fees for volunteering!
To volunteer or exhibit, contact Mark Baldridge, Festival Director,mbb@poetryflash.org.

This Watershed is dedicated to Susan Herron Sibbet 

Watershed banners by artist Arthur Okamura
Waterchute shades by artist Claire Anna Baker

Chairs, shade, and carpet squares provided; bring your lunch or pick up something at the Farmers’ Market—How about bringing your sunscreen, blanket, and parasol?

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