The Wade Martin Scholarship Fund
“His devotion to his students was unparalleled, often forsaking his own time and needs to meet those of his students.”
In line with our vision of equity, inclusion, access, and diversity, we have established the Wade Martin Scholarship Fund to help aspiring writers who would otherwise not have access to a writing education. This memorial scholarship is inspired by the spirit of Wade Martin, a prominent member of the Austin poetry community who believed everyone should have access to writing and the arts.
Wade began writing poetry as a teenager and largely refused to stop. He read and studied the history of the genre voraciously, always hungry to know more. One of the Austin poetry community’s key members, Wade regularly attended open mics, poetry readings, and critique groups.
When he wasn’t performing at these events, he was eager to offer support and warmth to fellow poets. In these and all environments, Wade desired to serve, offering his help and time in any way that he could. From 2014 to 2015, Wade co-hosted the reading series Mind Maze for Raw Paw at Malvern Books before serving as editor for the Texas Poetry Calendar from 2015 to 2017.
Wade completed his thesis ‘The Bird That Gave Birth to My Mother’ and graduated with his MFA from Texas State University in 2019. Throughout graduate school and after, Wade taught English courses at Texas State.
His devotion to his students was unparalleled, often forsaking his own time and needs to meet those of his students. He had a particularly large heart for teaching creative writing, teaching workshops and courses for the Austin Poetry Society, San Marcos Public Library, Freehand Arts Project, Upward Bound, and Badgerdog.
He believed, above all, that access to arts and writing education was valuable to the human experience and should be made accessible to all.
The Bird That Gave Birth to My Mother
beginning with a line from Norman Dubie’s Elegy Asking That It Be the Last
There’s a bird the color of mustard. The bird
that gave birth to my mother. The color
of dust on a lantern. The bright yellow egg
that she hatched from. The beak of the bird
that is golden. The sunbeam that broke
her shell open. The feathers that fell
from the bird’s wings. The smell of her
fumbling and misery. The eye-ring
through which sight is broken. Her howling
at having been woken. In Spring,
the bird’s brimful of luster. By Summer,
my mom’s the town drunkard. In Autumn,
a yellow-leaved nest. By Winter, cirrhosis
again. The bird migrates south
with the weather. My mother
has gone south forever.
How You Can Help
Your support can help us create a more inclusive, equitable society by reaching those who need assistance in accessing our valuable creative writing courses. To donate to the Wade Martin Scholarship Fund, you can mail a check made out to The Library Foundation at PO BOX 13201, Austin, Texas, 78711 or donate online below.
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