Rena Priest is a poet and an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She is the current Washington State Poet Laureate and 2022 Maxine Crushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow. She is the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award and fellowships from In-Na-Po and the Vadon Foundation. She is the author of two poetry collections Sublime Subliminal and Patriarchy Blues, which received an American Book Award. Priest holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.