Author and Dallas resident David Marquis has spent more than four decades promoting the arts, education, the environment, human rights and democracy. He will discuss his books The River Always Wins and I Am a Teacher at a free live virtual event for the Allen Public Library on June 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Residents can watch the event at allentx.swagit.com and submit questions until 8:30 p.m. that evening by emailing liveonstage@cityofallen.org.
Marquis began his teaching career at Bowman Middle School in Plano. When one of his former students was killed by gunfire in 1976, the trauma of the slaying led Marquis to write a play about what it means to be a teacher who cares about his students. Marquis performed I Am a Teacher regularly for 16 years, taking his one-man show to 40 states, the Kennedy Center and a congressional hearing room.
The play received rave reviews, and in 1990, Simon and Schuster published the book I Am a Teacher: A Tribute to America’s Teachers, featuring photographs and interviews with teachers from all 50 states, co-written by Marquis and photographer Robin Sachs.
Published last year, The River Always Wins: Water as a Metaphor for Hope and Progress is Marquis’ latest project. The book is a meditation on water as a metaphor for social, spiritual and emotional change.
Marquis is the founder of the 118-acre Oak Cliff Nature Preserve, whose members’ efforts saved a forest from being bulldozed. In 1984, he served as an election observer in El Salvador. A year later, he traveled to South Africa during the anti-apartheid movement. He has also been a longtime consultant on water issues, such as how to improve water quality in the Trinity River, and he has written op-eds on the subject for The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The former Allen resident is a graduate of Austin College, which named him a distinguished alumnus in 1992.
For more information on the virtual event, call 214-509-4911.
