Walla Walla University will welcome Tod Marshall, Washington state poet laureate, to campus on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. Marshall will discuss the importance of language and the humanities in today's society. He will speak at 7 p.m. in room 117 of the Administration Building, 204 S. College Ave., College Place.

Marshall is Washington state’s fourth poet laureate and the first to reside on the east side of the Cascades. As poet laureate, Marshall seeks to build awareness and appreciation of poetry through public readings, workshops, lectures, and presentations in communities throughout the state.

As the first member of his family to attend college, Marshall has a passion for bringing the humanities to everyone. As he explains, “Poetry matters … the inner life that the arts and humanities can nurture is important to living deliberately and introspectively. So I am interested in how poetry and all of the arts can help us find our best selves.”

Marshall's excellence in teaching and the arts has been recognized again and again, earning him the Washington Artists Trust Fellowship in 2005, the 2015 Humanities Washington Award for Scholarship and Service, and the Robert K. and Ann J. Powers Professor Chair of the Humanities at Gonzaga University from 2015-2017. His three collections of poetry have also earned praise, with Dare Say winning the 2002 University of Georgia's Contemporary Poetry Series and Bugle winning the 2015 Washington State Book Award.

Marshall studied English and philosophy at Siena Heights University. He has a master of fine arts degree from Eastern Washington University and a doctorate from The University of Kansas. He directs the writing concentration and coordinates the visiting writers series at Gonzaga University.

Find a complete list of Marshall's speaking engagements and read more about him at wapoetlaureate.org.

Posted Nov. 2, 2017