Dr. Martin "Marty" Dean Lammon, born in 1958, was raised and educated in Ohio but has also lived in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Costa Rica. He received his B.A. from Wittenberg University, majoring in English. There, he developed a deeper appreciation for poetry and credits Donald Hall's "Kicking the Leaves" for changing his life. For his senior year, he wrote about Hall's work and interviewed Robert Bly about the project as he was a lifelong friend of Hall. Later in the spring, Dr. Lammon met Hall for the first time at Otterbein College. During his undergraduate senior year, Dr. Lammon became the literary editor of "The Wittenberg Review," the college's student magazine of literature and art. After graduating, Dr. Lammon received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio University. From there, he worked at Juniata College, Pennsylvania (1988-91), then Fairmount State College, West Virginia (1991-97). While at Fairmont State, he founded the journal "Kestrel."
In 1997, Dr. Lammon moved to Georgia with his wife, Libby, to work at Georgia College and State University. He worked in the English Department while Libby worked in the International Education Office. Dr. Lammon held the Fuller E. Callaway endowed Flannery O'Connor Chair in creative writing for 21 years. While at GCSU, he founded the literary journal "Arts & Letters" and established a "Visiting Writers" series featuring various distinguished authors. One of his most notable accomplishments at the college was creating a Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing graduate program that is nationally competitive.
Dr. Lammon has published multiple times; his first book of poems is titled "News from Where I Live," which won the 1997 Arkansas Poetry Award and was published through the University of Arkansas Press. He also edited the book "Written in Water Written in Stone: Twenty Years of Poets on Poetry," an anthology of essays and interviews for the University of Michigan Press's "Poets on Poetry" series. Dr. Lammon's most recent collection of poems is "The Long Road Home" (Finishing Line Press, 2020).
Through his efforts, Dr. Lammon has helped to create publication, reading, and educational opportunities for hundreds of writers. Over the past 30 years, he has worked with other generous supporters to help establish honoraria for Georgia College visiting writers and "Arts & Letters" contributors, endow funding for the "Arts & Letters" annual prizes, and endow scholarships for creative writing students at Georgia College. Dr. Lammon is still involved at Georgia College and regularly works with the MFA program.