Lindsey Royal Wayland is a poet, calligrapher, and researcher whose work captures the subtle beauty of everyday moments. She has followed her practice to projects that reveal hidden depths in the seemingly ordinary—writing 10,000 anonymous letters, recording the last line of every poetry book she reads, studying presence through thousands of blind contour drawings and over 400 blind-contour-drawn faces, and writing a letter to LeBron James.

Wayland’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review, Bellevue Literary Review, swamp pink, Amsterdam Review, Haiku Society of America’s journal Frogpond, and Third Wednesday. A finalist for the 2024 Ninth Letter Literary Awards, Wayland is the recipient of the Washburn-Hayes merit scholarship, two Arts Commission grants, and a South Porch Artist Residency.

As Chair of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Wayland bridges government and the arts, guiding cultural initiatives and strengthening the city’s creative landscape. A longtime student of Zen Buddhism and the I Ching, she holds a BA in Poetry and Psychology, with post-graduate scholarship in depth psychology and archetypal symbolism. Wayland also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Pacific University.

A native Texan, Wayland grew up in the hill country on seven acres through a rattlesnake path. She now lives with family by the Salish Sea.