Seattle Arts & Lectures Announces 2021/22 Youth Poet Laureate Zinnia Hansen’s Book Release
June 14, 2022
Seattle, WA—JUNE 14, 2022: Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) is thrilled to announce the release of Spikenard, the first collection of poetry by the 2021/22 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate, Zinnia Hansen, published by Poetry NW Editions. At an in-person event that was part of the 2022 Folklife Festival, Hansen read from her new book alongside the 2022/23 Youth Poet Laureate (YPL) Cohort Members.
Hansen became the Seattle Youth Poet Laureate in spring of 2021—a time of deep reflection and careful transformation. Youth Poet Laureate Mentors Laura Da’ and Arianne True guided Hansen through the process of publishing, drawing from their own experiences. Her poetry collection, Spikenard, invites us to unearth the holiness of our rituals, and questions how, why, and to whom we pray. Love emerges as central to this work, just as the rose emerges from the moon in the cover art by the author’s grandmother, Toni Ann Rust.
Zinnia Hansen is a poet and essayist from the Pacific Northwest, studying at the University of Washington. Her work has been published in various magazines and online publications, including Rattle. She was a finalist in the New York Times Personal Narrative Contest and part of the Hugo House Young Poet’s Cohort.