Event Description

This event is free and open to all.

Please welcome Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest to the Historic Lincoln Theatre! On Saturday, September 3, Priest will be reading a selection of her works, followed by a generative poetry workshop with audience participation (please consider bringing your own notebook and writing utensil to this event).

Much of the evening will be centered around the subject of salmon, and its cultural impact on the peoples of the Salish region. As Priest explains, “salmon are sacred to my tribe, the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. We celebrate them in ceremony and song, and they have long been central to our Sche’le’ngen, our way of life. By celebrating salmon through poetry in every corner of the state, I hope to raise goodwill and a feeling of reverence for the salmon, a feeling that my people have felt since time immemorial.”

Rena Priest is a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She is the incumbent Washington State Poet Laureate and Maxine Cushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow. Priest is also the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award and fellowships from The Academy of American Poets, Indigenous Nations Poets, and the Vadon Foundation.

Her debut collection, Patriarchy Blues, received an American Book Award. Her second collection, Sublime Subliminal, was published as the finalist for the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Her most recent book, Northwest Know-How: Beaches, includes poems, legends, and descriptions of beaches in Washington and Oregon.

Priest’s nonfiction has appeared in High Country News, YES! Magazine, Seattle Met, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.

Sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission. Co-sponsored by Skagit River Poetry Foundation, Skagit Land Trust, and Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group. Special thanks to Easton’s Books.

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.