Lummi Nation member named state’s poet laureate

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A Bellingham writer and member of the Lummi Nation has been named Washington’s first Native American to serve as poet laureate.

The Washington State Arts Commission and Humanities Washington announced Thursday that Governor Jay Inslee has appointed Rena Priest as Washington’s sixth poet laureate with her two year term beginning April 15.

Priest says she 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.