&Now 2019 Conference

SPLAB is a Washington-based poetics-oriented non-profit organization founded in 1993. Using the tools of literature, our organization addresses the cultural, political, and social issues facing us in contemporary society, among them end-stage empire, the destruction of the biosphere, rampant xenophobia and violence and extreme income inequality. At &Now we seek to create a dialog around the anthologies we have conceived and published, how they fit into our bioregional cultural investigation: how the stance of bioregionalism is founded in sustainability (resistance to colonialism and empire, social diversity (or lack thereof); and the unique culture of Cascadia. SPLAB board members Cate Gable, Nadine Maestas, Paul E Nelson and Matt Trease will each discuss at least one of the recent publications: the Samthology, Make it True: Poetry From Cascadia, Make it True meets Medusario, American Prophets and 56 Days of August, the connections to bioregionalism and the bridges between cultures/interests/affinity groups we have sought to build via these projects. Some of our points of convergence are the specifics of location, transgender politics, serial poetics, ethnicity, and the fallibility of translation.