Event Description

The Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington hosts an annual literary and storytelling series. Sacred Breath features Indigenous writers and storytellers sharing their craft at the beautiful wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House on the UW Seattle campus. Storytelling offers a spiritual connection, a sharing of sacred breath. Literature, similarly, preserves human experience and ideals. Both forms are durable and transmit power that teaches us how to live. Both storytelling and reading aloud can impact audiences through the power of presence, allowing for the experience of the transfer of sacred breath as audiences are immersed in the experience of being inside stories and works of literature.

To attend this in-person event, you must first register here.

Rena Priest is the current Washington State Poet Laureate. A member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation, she is the author of Patriarchy Blues, which was honored with the 2018 American Book Award, and the recent Sublime Subliminal.

The Poet Laureate program is sponsored by Humanities Washington and The Washington State Arts Commission/ArtsWA, with the support of Governor Jay Inslee. See the full website of the Poet Laureate here.

Poet Laureate events are produced by the hosting organization.