Washington Poet Laureate to host workshop in Ritzville

In honor of National Poetry Month, the Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall will be visiting Ritzville on April 16.

Governor Jay Inslee appointed Marshall to the position in February. He is also the recipient of the Washington State Book Award for his poetry collection “Bugle”.

On Saturday, April 16, Marshall will hold a poetry workshop followed by a reading at the Ritzville Public Library beginning at 10 a.m.

The Friends of the Library held their quarterly meeting and made the decision to try and host more author readings in the 2016 year.

Library Aid Heidi Harting kept this in mind and reached out to Marshall after a patron advised he had been named the Poet Laureate.

Marshall accepted the offer immediately and suggested the addition of a workshop to encourage more people to write poetry.

Marshall also plans to publish an anthology of poems at the end of his term in 2018. The anthology will include poems submitted by Washington residents.

The anthology, entitled “Washington 129”, will be a combination of poems from “experienced poets and newcomers to the art, young students and lifetime learners” according to the Washington State Poet Laureate website.

The book will include 129 poems, one for every year Washington has been a state. For more information on the anthology visit http://www.wapoetlaureate.org.

Harting also worked with English teachers from Lind-Ritzville High School to encourage students to attend the workshop and reading.

The Legislature passed a bill recognizing the value of poetry to the culture and heritage of the state by establishing the Washington State Poet Laureate position in April 2007. The Legislature along with the Washington State Arts Commission, Humanities Washington and the Washington Poets Association has created a coalition to support the laureate position financially.

The role of the poet laureate is to build awareness and appreciation of poetry through public readings and workshops such as the one in Ritzville.

Poets can self-nominate every two years through an application process. Applicants are required to be a current resident of Washington and have at least one full-length book of poetry published by an established press.

They must also be engaged in the poetry community and be willing and able to promote poetry and the legacy of poetry throughout the State during their two-year term.

Marshall is the author of three poetry collections including “Dare Say”, “The Tangled Line” and “Bugle”.

Marshall earned a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from Eastern Washington University and a PhD from the University of Kansas.

Though he was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Wichita, Kansas, he finds his home here in the Pacific Northwest in Spokane and is a professor of English at Gonzaga University.

Marshall will be traveling all over Washington state to cities including Vancouver, Richmond, Ellensburg, Seattle, Bellingham, Tacoma, Federal Way, Gig Harbor, Whidbey Island and Ritzville.

The event on April 16 is free and open to the public.