29th Annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival (Berkeley)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Join us-Stand up for the Earth!
Celebrate Writers, Nature and Community

Strawberry Creek Walk
10:00 am, free
Meet Center at Oxford, edge of UC Berkeley campus
Poetry, talk, and a walk along Strawberry Creek through UC Berkeley and its underground path across downtown Berkeley to the Watershed Festival at Civic Center Park. Chris Olander, River Light, leads the Creek Walk and performs his poetry,
with nature commentary by Elizabeth Dougherty, Ph.D, founder/director of Wholly H20, and poets Claire Blotter, Expanding. Water. Ways, Emilie Lygren, What We Were Born For, Gabriel Cortez, Ecology Center Poet-in-Residence, and Mario Ellis Hill. Meet at the southeast corner of Oxford at Center, near the large, round sphere sculpture, on the edge of UC Berkeley campus.

29th Annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, Main Stage
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Noon to 4:30 pm, free
Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park, MLK Jr. Way at Allston Way, alongside the Farmers’ Market, downtown Berkeley, one block from BART
Poetry and Music Celebrating Writers, Nature, and Community!

Featuring Jane Hirshfield, Fred Cody Award-winner for Lifetime Achievement and Service, “one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for the biosphere,” The Asking;
Genny Lim, San Francisco Poet Laureate;
Lee Herrick, California Poet Laureate In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected;
James Cagney, Martian: The Saint of Loneliness, James Laughlin Award-winner from the Academy of American Poets;
Ellery Akers, A Door Into the Wild: Poetry and Art;
Marsha de la O, Creature, Pitt Poetry Series;
Cintia Santana, The Disordered Alphabet, winner of the Northern California Book Award in Poetry,
John Shoptaw, Near-Earth Object, Northern California Book Award-winner for Times Beach

California Poets in the Schools students presented by Tureeda Mikell, The Body: Oracle of Memory,
and Brennan DeFrisco, Fly Like the Clouds of Time, CalPoets State Anthology
Sharon Coleman and Ranko Ogura dance to poetry by Chris Olander.
World class-jazz by The Barry Finnerty Trio, known for his work playing for Miles Davis, The Crusaders, Brecker Brothers, Hubert Laws, and more.

(Berkeley, CA) Poets, musicians, environmentalists, and community members will gather on Saturday, October 5, 2024, for the 29th annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, to celebrate Writers, Nature and Community, and to deliver an urgent message, with poetry and music, to consider the earth and climate change in our daily lives. Our belief is that we need the inspiration of poetry and music to meet our collective challenge.
The Festival begins with the Strawberry Creek Walk, poetry, nature commentary, and an easy walk along beautiful Strawberry Creek through UC Berkeley. To participate, meet at 10:00 am, at the southeast corner of Oxford at Center, on the edge of the UC Berkeley campus. All Festival events are free.

The Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival continues on the Main Stage at Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park, at Center Street, Berkeley, Noon to 4:30 pm. Please gather for a free afternoon of poetry, music, and nature writers in the park.

Watershed will begin with the We Are Nature Open Mic. To enter the drawing for one of 8 three-minute open reading spots,
go to the onsite Festival Info Tent by noon.

To exhibit your books, magazine, project, or organization, email info@poetryflash.org, with WATERSHED in the subject line. Tables, chairs, and 10×10 canopies available! See more information on the Watershed page at Poetryflash.org.

For program updates, see: Poetryflash.org.
Books by presenters will be offered for sale by Pegasus Books Downtown.

Berkeley has a rich literary culture with poetry at its base. Poetry Flash has represented that base since 1972 with literary events, articles, and reviews. Since 1995, Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival has blended art, culture, and the environment to celebrate Writers, Nature, and Community in northern California. Robert Hass, the first U.S. Poet Laureate from the West, co-founded the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival during engaged community discussions between environmental groups and poets. The first Watershed Festival took place in April 1996 at the Golden Gate Park bandshell, with over a thousand people in attendance to hear poets Joy Harjo, Michael McClure, and many others. The late Mark Baldridge, for many years Director of the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, left an amazing legacy. The Watershed logo is a wood block print by Shane Eagleton.

Admission is free. Thanks to the Berkeley Civic Arts Program for their support, and to our community partners, Pegasus Books Downtown, and the Berkeley Farmers’ Market and Ecology Center. Presented by Poetry Flash review and literary calendar, Poetryflash.org.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.