To celebrate national poetry month, Walla Walla University’s Department of English is hosting award-winning guest poet Ryler Dustin in an event open to the community. This colloquium will be held May 8 at 7 p.m. in the Administration Building, room 117.

Dustin is a Pacific Northwest native, doctoral graduate, and award-winning poet. His recent work “Trailer Park Psalms” clinched the 2022 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded by the University of Pittsburgh Press. The story charts the narrator's odyssey from their humble beginnings in a trailer park, navigating a landscape tainted by violence. Amidst tumult, the narrator searches for glimpses of wonder capable of igniting hope in a compromised world.

Dustin is a passionate educator and teacher. He has represented Seattle on the final stage of the Individual World Poetry Slam and his work appears in outlets like American Life in Poetry, Verse Daily, Gulf Coast, and The Best of Button Poetry.

The Administration Building is located at 204 S. College Ave., College Place.

Posted April 25, 2024