Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh is a poet of Samoan, Tuvaluan, English and French descent. Her first collection, the bestselling Fast Talking PI, won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in 2010. As Commonwealth Poet (2016), she composed and performed for the Queen at Westminster Abbey. She became New Zealand's Poet Laureate in 2017. Her debut children's book and memoir, Mophead: How Your Difference Makes a Difference, was awarded the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year at the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and was followed by Mophead Tu: The Queen's Poem.

Verb Festival 2022 appearances:
Show Ponies, Fri 4 Nov, 7:30pm & 9pm.