WALKING SPAIN

$35.00 and $60.00

First Edition (November 2023)
8" x 10"
228 pages
14 color photo collages

Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-946970-16-9
$35.00

Hardback (Case-Laminate)
ISBN: 978-1-946970-15-2
$60.00

Published by Wake-Robin Press
La Grande, Oregon

Book Design by redbat design

WALKING SPAIN:
A Young Writer’s Journal (1965–66)

Escaping the wild northwest fall of 1965, George Venn, a 21-year-old would-be writer, secretly sets out alone on a 16,000-mile quest to discover Spain. Picaro, linguist, sophomore, virgin, lover, he records his travels to Salamanca to study at that famous university. Eventually expelled, short funds, fired, seduced, what happens when he sets out in winter 1966 to walk Spain? This journal tells that uncensored story—pack, tent, wits, sleeping bag, and more. From the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the Stuart Holbrook Award, Oregon Book Awards, and Poetry in Motion comes the veteran writer, editor, and poet’s 1960s memoir.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

   Chapter 1:   Spokane to New York, October, 1965
   Chapter 2:   New York to Lisbon, October, 1965
   Chapter 3:   Salamanca Days, October, 1965
   Chapter 4:   Salamanca Fall, November, 1965
   Chapter 5:   Salamanca Winter, December, 1965
   Chapter 6:   Salamanca to Lisbon, January, 1966
   Chapter 7:   Lisbon to Valencia, January, 1966
   Chapter 8:   Valencia to Alicante, January/February, 1966
   Chapter 9:   Saler to Orgaz, March/April, 1966
   Chapter 10:   Orgaz to Seville, April, 1966
   Chapter 11:   Madrid to Southhampton, April, 1966
   Chapter 12:   London to Spokane, April/May/June/July, 1966

Selected Works
About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Poet, essayist, literary historian, editor, linguist, and educator, George Venn is a distinguished figure in western literature. In 1988, his third book, Marking the Magic Circle, was awarded a silver medal from Oregon Institute of Literary Arts. From 1989-1994, he designed and directed the OREGON LITERATURE SERIES for which he received the Stewart Holbrook Award for "outstanding contributions to Oregon's literary life." In 1999, West of Paradise was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. In 2005, the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission honored Marking the Magic Circle as "one of the 100 best Oregon books in two centuries." His C.E.S. Wood monograph Soldier to Advocate (2007) and his Word War II Fred Hill collection Darkroom Soldier have recently earned high praise.

Vermont PBS, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, August 1971.
VIEW THE FULL VIDEO HERE

WALKING SPAIN:A Young Writer’s Journal (1965–66)

WALKING SPAIN:
A Young Writer’s Journal (1965–66)