THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED. DATE TBA.

Methow Arts is excited to announce that poet Rena Priest, who was appointed the sixth Washington State Poet Laureate this year, will travel to the Methow Valley this October for school residencies and a public reading in Twisp on Tuesday, October 12th.

“Poetry is a gift. This is my approach to it and my belief about it: I’m very lucky to have it. We all are,” says Rena Priest.

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 will be the first Indigenous poet to assume the role.

“I am incredibly excited and honored to take on this role,” said Priest. “I’m fascinated by the way people come together around poetry. I am always delighted by how they gather in quiet rooms and let themselves be drawn in, lit up, and transformed by the words of other people. It’s a powerful way of connecting.”

Priest’s term will run from April 14, 2021, to March 31, 2023. She will succeed Claudia Castro Luna, the former poet laureate. Prior to Castro Luna, Tod Marshall (2016-2018), Elizabeth Austen (2014–2016), Kathleen Flenniken (2012–2014), and Sam Green (2007–2009) held the position.

The Washington State Poet Laureate program is jointly sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA). Poets laureate work to build awareness and appreciation of poetry—including the state’s legacy of poetry—through public readings, workshops, lectures, and presentations in communities throughout the state. Laureates are selected through an application and panel review process that evaluates candidates’ writing acumen, commitment to reaching diverse communities, and experience promoting poetry.

Each laureate puts their own unique focus on the position, and Priest will focus 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.

“There are 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington, composed of 140,714 tribal citizens,” said Priest. “I’m sad to say that in the hundreds of poetry readings I’ve attended over the years, I’ve only met a handful of Native poets. I know that this is not because we don’t exist, but because we don’t have the same access to writing communities as people living in cities and towns.”

For the environmental piece, she “hopes to use poetry and story to invite readers to engage in contemplation of how they can help protect the natural world.”

“We are in an important historical moment when science has given us a deadline to make significant changes to heal our planet,” she said. “I want to use poetry as a tool to offer new perspectives and generate enthusiasm for the idea that we can slow and reverse the effects of ecological destruction simply by loving the Earth.”

Priest was drawn to poetry from an early age. Her grandmother published a small chapbook of poetry, and she cites that and Shel Silverstein’s book Where the Sidewalk Ends as “among the finest gifts I’ve ever been given.” And as a child, Priest would lie in bed at night and “whisper pleasing word combinations. It was the best thing I knew how to do. It’s still the best thing I know how to do.”

Her term will officially begin on April 14 with the “Passing of the Laurel” event at 6:00 p.m., an event that will feature former poets laureate. A complete list of Poet Laureate events is below.

In addition to winning the American Book Award, Priest received the Allied Arts Foundation 2020 Professional Poets Award, a 2020 Vadon Foundation Fellowship, and residency fellowships from Hawthornden Castle, Hedgebrook, and Mineral School. She is a National Geographic Explorer and a 2019 Jack Straw Writer. 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.

“Poetry is a gift,” said Priest. “This is my approach to it and my belief about it: I’m very lucky to have it. We all are.”

DATE: THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED. DATE TBA. Tues, Oct 12, 5:30pm-6:30pm. LOCATION: Methow Arts, Twisp, WA. PRE-REGISTER: info@methowartsalliance.org. VACCINE CARDS/MASKS REQUIRED: *Due to a sharp surge in Covid-19 cases in Okanogan County, attendees must be fully vaccinated to attend this event. Masks are required. Attendees will be required to pre-register. Please be prepared to present one of the following with a current ID/Driver’s License: 1. Completed CDC vaccinated card; 2. State Dept of Health Certificate of Covid-19 Vaccination; 3.Printed copy of a State Dept of Health vaccine record; 4. A photograph of any of the above documents; 5. An app-based vaccine passport.  INFO: info@methowartsalliance.org, 509-997-4004.