Remembering ‘Dangerous Writing’ author and teacher Tom Spanbauer

Think Out Loud

Portland writer Tom Spanbauer is being remembered -- on social media, in articles and in countless conversations with those who knew and loved him, were taught by him or simply loved his books. He died of heart failure on Saturday, Sept. 21 at age 78, after living with Parkinson's for the last eight years, according to his husband, Michael Sage Ricci.

Spanbauer was born in Idaho. He moved around the country in his 20s and 30s, but settled in Portland in 1991. Since that time he taught and influenced a whole generation of Portland writers through an approach he invented called “Dangerous Writing.”

We broadcast this interview live in April 2014, after his latest novel, “I Loved You More,” was published. It's a love triangle among a gay man, a straight man and a straight woman who push toward and pull away from each other with tenderness and ferocity. The book is also a fearless exploration of mortality and loss. “I Loved You More” was to be his last published novel.

We also talked to Spanbauer about what it was like to live through the AIDS epidemic as a gay man in the 1980s and be a longtime survivor of HIV -- and how that influenced him personally and professionally. In 2015, he received an Oregon Book Award for lifetime achievement.