Washington State Book Award Follows the Salmon Home
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I Sing the Salmon Home with its shiny new sticker. [/caption]
By Nhatt Nichols
On the ridges above salmon-filled Chimacum Creek sits Empty Bowl Press, a small publisher that has brought home the prestigious Washington State book award for poetry with their anthology, I Sing the Salmon Home.
Edited by former Washington State Poet Laureate and Lummi tribal member Rena Priest, I Sing the Salmon Home features poems from more than 150 Washington poets ranging from first
graders to tribal elders, including several poets from the Olympic Peninsula. Each poem was inspired by Priest asking the writer to explore their personal relationship with salmon.
The book creates a witness to the threats salmon face from pollution, dams, and warming oceans. As Priest writes in her preface: “It is my hope that the poems in this collection will carry into the hearts of readers a wish to preserve and protect the gifts of salmon bestowed by a beautiful living earth.”
Co-owner of Empty Bowl Press, Holly Hughes, is thrilled to have received the coveted prize, but for her, it isn’t simply about the prestige the award brings. It’s also about the salmon themselves.
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Publishers John Pierce and Holly Hughes [/caption]
“[Winning] was a really fun way to kind of move into our season of salmon, and it is really affirming of what we need to do to protect and preserve the salmon in our bioregion,” Hughes said. “As publishers, we're thrilled; it's a big deal. And personally, I'm also grateful because I care deeply about salmon, and this is an award that I hope will bring some more attention to them.”
The Washington Center for the Book selects winners in seven categories, including poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The 2024 Washington State Book Awards honors outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2023. Though Jefferson County is well known for its authors and small presses, writers from Seattle typically dominate the awards, making a win for a rural press all the more special.
However, this isn’t the first time a Jefferson County poet has been nominated. In 2023, When I Was the Wind by Port Townsend’s Hannah Lee Jones was nominated, and in 2022, Kelli Russell Agodon of Port Ludlow was nominated for Dialogues with Rising Tides.
For Hughes, the award is very much a case of rising tides lifting all boats. This is a win for a small rural press, a win for Priest, and a win for all of the poets who contributed. But it’s also a win for the resilience of salmon.
Hughes says, “I'm a strong believer in poetry as witness, and that's what poets are doing, we're witnessing both the plight of the salmon, but also their incredible spirit. We can learn from their resilience, that heroic journey back up the stream.”
If you would like to celebrate the salmon and this book in person, Empty Bowl Press will be at Finnriver Book Fair (124 Center Rd, Chimacum, WA 98325, United States) on November 10, 12 to 5 pm.
Hughes and Priest will be reading from I Sing the Salmon Home on Nov. 14th from 7 to 9 pm on Vashon Island at the Land Trust Building (10014 SW Bank Rd, Vashon).
All Photos courtesy of Empty Bowl Press.
