As a way to mark the end of the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls: Honoring Our Stolen Sisters Exhibition, MoNA will host Rena Priest.
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 most recent book, Northwest Know-How: Beaches, includes poems, legends, and 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 is presently collecting poems about salmon for an anthology to be published in 2023. Learn more at www.renapriest.com
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.
This event is open to all ages and free to the public. Please RSVP using the form below.
Contact education@museumofnwart.org with any questions.