The Washington Center for the Book announced the finalists for the 58th annual Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) on Tuesday, September 3. Among the 39 finalists across seven categories, two authors from Bellingham, Rena Priest and Robert Lashley, have been selected.
Rena Priest, a poet and enrolled member of the Lummi Nation, is a finalist in the poetry category for her work as the editor of I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State. This anthology, which celebrates salmon, features contributions from more than 150 poets from the region, including voices from tribal elders to first graders.
Priest served as Washington State Poet Laureate from 2021 to 2023. She has authored three other published works, including the poetry collections Sublime Subliminal (2018) and Patriarchy Blues (2017), as well as the guidebook Northwest Know-How: Beaches (2022).
Robert Lashley, an author, poet, essayist, and critic, is a finalist in the fiction category for his novel I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer, titled after a Stevie Wonder lyric. The novel is an epistolary work that follows a Black student navigating the complexities of campus politics, community tensions, and his own past as a drug runner.
Lashley is a 2016 Jack Straw fellow and has published several other books, including Green River Valley (2021), Up South (2017), and The Homeboy Songs (2014). His poetry has been featured in various publications such as The Seattle Review of Books, Poetry Northwest, and McSweeney’s.
The WSBA is affiliated with the Library of Congress Center for the Book and is administered by the Washington State Library. The winners in each category will be announced on September 24.