Shawn E. Marchese

Shawn E. Marchese went down the hobbit hole in his teens after finding a reference to Tolkien in a book about Pink Floyd and has been in love with Middle-earth (and progressive rock) ever since. He's especially drawn to the linguistic aspects of Tolkien's work and shares his obsession for languages with listeners every week as the Prancing Pony Podcast's resident word-nerd. Shawn met Alan Sisto seven years ago in a Facebook group for Tolkien fans, and still remembers the day he casually agreed to do a podcast with him "like, maybe once a month." When not working on the podcast, Shawn can be found at his day job as a compliance officer, writing, brewing ales, or working on his geeky dad credentials with his wife and two children in Austin, Texas. The Prancing Pony Podcast was the winner of the Tolkien Society 2020 Award for Best Online Content.