A Study in Light: An Afternoon With Washington Poet Laureate Rena Priest

Northwest Great Books and Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum are thrilled to celebrate the Spring Equinox with Washington State Poetry Laureate, Rena Priest.  

Rena Priest became the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate on April 14, 2021. Each  laureate puts their own unique focus on the position, Rena 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. 

A Study in Light features an afternoon of readings from her latest book Northwest Know-How: Beaches and other selected poems. 

Rena Priest became the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate on April 14, 2021, and her term will run until March 31, 2023. She is a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation 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 theFloating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Her most recent book, Northwest Know-How: Beaches, includes poems, retellings of legends, and fun descriptions of 29 of the most beloved 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.