Program Overview

The Washington State Poet Laureate serves to build awareness and appreciation of poetry — including the state’s legacy of poetry — through public readings, workshops, lectures, and presentations in geographically diverse areas of the state. The appointed poet laureate serves a two-year term.

In April 2007, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill that recognized the value of poetry to the culture and heritage of the state by establishing the Washington State Poet Laureate. The poet laureate program is funded and run by Humanities Washington and ArtsWA, with the support of Gov. Jay Inslee. Poets can either self-nominate or be nominated by a third party every two years through an application process.

About Rena Priest

Rena Priest became the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate on April 14, 2021, and her term will run until March 31, 2023.

Priest’s literary debut, Patriarchy Blues, was honored with the 2018 American Book Award, and her most recent work is Sublime Subliminal. A member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation, she is the first Indigenous poet to assume the role. She succeeds poets Claudia Castro Luna (2018-2021), Tod Marshall (2016-2018), Elizabeth Austen (2014-2016), Kathleen Flenniken (2012–2014), and Sam Green (2007–2009). Learn more about past laureates here.

Priest’s work can be found in Poetry Northwest, Pontoon Poetry, Verse Daily, Poem-a-Day at Poets.org, and elsewhere. She has taught Comparative Cultural Studies and Contemporary American Issues at Western Washington University and Native American Literature at Northwest Indian College. Priest holds a BA in English from Western Washington University and an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Each laureate puts their own unique focus on the position, and Priest focuses on two primary goals during her term: celebrating poetry in Washington’s tribal communities, and using poetry to increase appreciation of the natural world and the threats facing it.

Read Priest’s blog at wapoetlaureate.org, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Contact Rena

Apply below to bring the poet laureate to an ONLINE community event:

Apply to host an online event

Apply below to bring the poet laureate to an IN-PERSON community event:

Apply to host an in-person event

To ask the laureate to send a prerecorded video message to your event, click here.

For press inquiries, click here.

The Poet Laureate program is run in partnership with:

Additional support for the Poet Laureate program provided by: