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Tom Spanbauer, a prominent Portland author who mentored many local writers on “dangerous writing,” died on Sept. 21. Spanbauer had been ill with Parkinson’s disease for about eight years, and the cause of death was heart failure, according to his longtime partner Sage Ricci. He was 78.
According to his publisher, Hawthorne Books, Spanbauer grew up on a farm near Pocatello, Idaho. After living in New Hampshire, Vermont and Florida and serving for two years in the Peace Corps in Kenya, he settled in Portland in 1991. He had an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, which he earned while waiting tables and being the superintendent of five buildings on East Fifth Street in New York City.
Spanbauer’s novels include Faraway Places, The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon, In the City of Shy Hunters and Now Is the Hour. His most recent fiction was 2014′s I Loved You More, the story of a love triangle as it plays out over 25 years across Idaho, mid-1980s New York City and Portland.
He was also known for his fiction and memoir-writing technique “dangerous writing,” which he taught in workshops in the basement of his home and around the world, according to Ricci. More than 50 of his former students went on to publish novels or memoirs.
“It is a terrifying thing to bring your inner life out of the closet and read it aloud to a group,” Spanbauer wrote about teaching the workshops. “I must listen for the heartbreak, the rage, the shame, the fear that is hidden within the words. Then I must respect where each individual student is in relation to his or her broken heart and act accordingly.”
Author Chuck Palahniuk announced Spanbauer’s death in his newsletter, crediting Spanbauer as “the writer who taught me and many, many people the style of Minimalism.”
Ricci says there will be no formal funeral service at Spanbauer’s request.