La Conner Rotarians were the first to view the 2026 Skagit River Poetry Festival poster during a special unveiling ceremony at their weekly meeting at Shawn O’Donnell’s American Grill and Irish Pub at the Farmhouse on a recent Monday.

There was both rhyme and reason for the La Conner Rotary Club being chosen to witness the unveiling of artist Cathy Schoenberg’s poster, entitled “Bookworm,” which invites the viewer to reflect and write a few words of their own.

La Conner Rotary, after all, prioritizes literacy enhancement among its many public service initiatives.

The special poster reveal, six months ahead of the 2026 festival, was much appreciated by local Rotarians.

Left to right: La Conner Rotarian Marty Pease, Skagit River Poetry Foundation Executive Molly McNulty and poster artist Cathy Schoenberg. Photo by Bill Reynolds / La Conner Community News

“Thank you for honoring us by showing it to us first,” La Conner Rotarian Marty Pease told Schoenberg and Skagit River Poetry Foundation Executive Director Molly McNulty, both of whom attended the April 6 meeting.

This year’s festival is Oct. 22-24 in La Conner.

The three-day event brings to town a diverse group of poetic voices from throughout the country to lead workshops for the community.

McNulty had approached Schoenberg, a Spokane native now residing on nearby Guemes Island, to create the festival poster because she admired her work and knew it would resonate with attendees.

“We’re excited about this,” McNulty said of Schoenberg’s “Bookworm.”

“It’s eye-catching and does everything a poster should do,” she said.

Cora Thomas, the Skagit River Poetry foundation’s former executive assistant, said the poster features the words “Bookworm” in bold on a white mug and a line from the poem “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye written across an open journal.

Nye, a celebrated poet, editor, songwriter and novelist, will headline the festival in La Conner this fall.

Nye’s passage on the poster reads, “Then it is only kindness that makes sense any more.”

Schoenberg’s inclusion of that particular message shows that words can help people make sense of an unsteady world.

“This is what poetry and all art can help us do,” Thomas said.

Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.