George Venn

Poet, essayist, literary historian, editor, and educator, George Venn (1943- ) is a distinguished figure in Pacific Northwest literature. Raised by his maternal grandparents near Mt. Rainier, he was first schooled among the evergreen Cascades. In 1957 his family moved to the gold larch mountains of Spirit Lake, Idaho, where he graduated in 1961, then enrolled at The College of Idaho. In Caldwell, spring, 1967, his B.A. advisor Dr. Louie Attebery introduced George to Pacific Northwest literature...See more

Poet, essayist, literary historian, editor, and educator, George Venn (1943- ) is a distinguished figure in Pacific Northwest literature. Raised by his maternal grandparents near Mt. Rainier, he was first schooled among the evergreen Cascades. In 1957 his family moved to the gold larch mountains of Spirit Lake, Idaho, where he graduated in 1961, then enrolled at The College of Idaho. In Caldwell, spring, 1967, his B.A. advisor Dr. Louie Attebery introduced George to Pacific Northwest literature and suggested he enroll at the University of Montana. While studying in Missoula, George completed a tutorial with Dr. Harold G. Merriam, renown northwest editor for two decades. In 1970, MFA granted, George moved to the fertile Grande Ronde Valley to teach at Eastern Oregon University. There, he offered his first Pacific Northwest literature course in 1971. Honored with the Distinguished Teaching Faculty award in 2002, he then retired to write. Since 1971 his diverse prose has been widely published. Editor of over 22 works, his leadership as General Editor of The Oregon Literature Series was honored by the 1995 Stewart Holbrook Award for "outstanding contributions to Oregon's literary life." In 1988, the Oregon Institute of Literary Arts awarded Marking the Magic Circle a silver medal. Over forty years, he published reviews, adjudicated literary contests, and evaluated manuscripts. Some 120 poems have appeared in print including a 1980 Pushcart Prize. In 1999 West of Paradise was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award. As a literary historian, he researched over 20 works including the widely-praised Soldier to Advocate, and his writing on Nard Jones' Oregon Detour inspired the Northwest Reprint Series from OSU Press. As an educator, he was the first professor east of the Oregon Cascades to regularly teach Native American literature. In 1981-1982, he was among the first American writers to teach English in post-Cultural Revolution China. See less