Rena Priest is an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She served as the 6th Washington State Poet Laureate (2021-2023) and is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the 2024 Washington State Book Award, the 2020 Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award, and the 2018 American Book Award. Her collection of essays, Positively Uncivilized, was selected as the Raven Chronicles Press Keepers of the Fire Award, and is slated for release in September 2025. In 2022, she was named the Maxine Kushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow by the University of Washington Libraries and also received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and Indigenous Nations Poets. From 2021 to 2024, she periodically toured the country as part of an all-Indigenous ensemble in a show called Welcome to Indian Country. In 2024, she served as a judge for the 50th annual National Book Award. Her poetry and non-fiction appear widely online and in print. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.