Remembering novelist and ‘Dangerous Writer’ Tom Spanbauer

Support your source for independent reporting on OPB in 2024 and beyond! Culture Tom Spanbauer in Portland, Ore. during the summer of 2024. Spanbauer influenced a generation of Pacific Northwest authors through his “Dangerous Writing” workshops. Often hailed as the Godfather of Portland’s literary world , author Tom Spanbauer spent nearly three decades shaping a generation of Pacific Northwest authors through his “Dangerous Writing” workshops. The author of five novels, including “The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon” and “I Loved You More,” Spanbauer died Sept. 21, 2024 after a long illness with Parkinson’s. Hundreds went through Spanbauer’s “Dangerous Writing” courses which started in 1991 with a small cohort of authors which included Chuck Palahniuk, Monica Drake and Suzy Vitello. Subsequent writing groups branched out from there and counted Lidia Yuknavitch, Chelsea Cain and Cheryl Strayed among authors influenced by Spanbauer’s work. OPB’s “All Things Considered” host Crystal Ligori looked back at Spanbauer’s life and legacy with author Suzy Vitello, Spanbaurer’s partner of 22 years Michael Sage Ricci, writer and illustrator Gigi Little, and editor and publisher Rhonda Hughes. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity. Your browser does not support the audio element. Suzy Vitello Suzy Vitello poses with Tom Spanbauer during the “I Loved You More” book tour at Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore. April, 2014. Vitello was part of the original ‘Dangerous Writing’ cohort in 1991, along with Chuck Palahniuk and Monica Drake. I was enrolled in an extension class from Portland State University in fall of 1991. I walked in there and instantly, he took my hand in both of his and he looked me in the eye and he said, “I’m glad you’re here”. And it was just like, ‘What? Who is this magical person?’ And then he gave us an assignment: Write something that after you are different. Just something about his mannerism, and his total presence and that assignment sort of coalesced, worked together. And I wrote something that scared the holy crap out of me. That’s part of, I think, the magic of his combination of persona […]

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