Jaiden Dokken
Jaiden Dokken served as the first Clallam County Poet Laureate from April 2023 through March 2025.
Jaiden Dokken (they/them) is a local writer, printmaker, ceramicist, cidermaker, and self-described highly persistent penpal. Dokken’s work has been published in Fiction International, Algorithm, Muses and Vices, SpeakEasy, Superfroot Magazine, and Pile Press. They are an editor and reader for Perennial Press.
Experiences unique to the North Olympic Peninsula resonate in poems by Jaiden, who grew up in Sequim and returned to live there as an adult. As Poet Laureate, they will bring poetry to residents across Clallam County by participating in events, leading workshops, and championing the community power of the written and spoken word.
Past Events with the Clallam County Poet Laureate
About the Poet Laureate Position
The Poet Laureate will serve a two-year term, bringing poetry to residents of the county by participating in events, leading workshops, and championing the community power of the written and spoken word throughout Clallam County.
A major goal of the Clallam County Poet Laureate program is to use poetry to bring a variety of voices and perspectives to culturally diverse audiences throughout the county, and to bring communities together through poetry. Poetry helps us to see, understand and think about our community and our world through a different lens and challenges us to reconsider the common ties that bind us together.
This position comes with an annual stipend of $5,000 ($10,000 total) in recognition of the appointed poet’s time and energy in participating in or hosting events as well as to support the poet’s craft and practice.
Nellie Bridge will serve as the second Clallam County Poet Laureate (April 2025 through March 2027). The position is generously funded by the North Olympic Library Foundation and Clallam County.
Jaiden Dokken served as the first Clallam County Poet Laureate (April 2023 through March 2025).
