LA GRANDE — Award-winning La Grande author George Venn is becoming reacquainted with his younger self.

Venn, an emeritus Eastern Oregon University professor, is reawakening his past after dusting the sands of time off the pages of more than a dozen spiral notebooks to create his latest book — “Walking Spain: A Young Writer’s Journal (1965-66).”

The 228-page publication is primarily a transcription of handwritten journal entries Venn made during a journey across Spain, plus smaller portions of England and Portugal, almost six decades ago.

Venn describes his latest work, which recently received the International Book Excellence Award, as a coming of age experience. Venn, now 80, was a sophomore at the College of Idaho when he explored Europe in 1965-66.

The book includes a number of letters Venn wrote to his family in northeast Washington while in Europe, some of which were edited. None of Venn’s journal entries are edited except for minor typographical errors Venn credits proofreader Greg Johnson of Union County with doing an outstanding job of catching and correcting.

Venn made no revisions or structural changes after the transcription process was complete.

“I give you just the raw journey and the uncorrected record, fixing only confusing or intrusive mechanical errors,” Venn writes in his book’s introduction.

The author limited his revisions because he wanted readers to experience what he did when he took a look at his journals in 2022 for the first time in years. Venn was startled by how candid and unfiltered his observations were as a “would-be writer” in his early 20s.

“I wanted readers to feel the same surprise I felt when re-reading my original journal entries,” Venn said.

Taking a stand

Venn, when re-reading his journal, sees an individual who was more rebellious than he is today.

This is apparent in his mid-December 1965 entries when he discusses working conditions at an English language school in northwest Spain where he taught in late 1965. Venn and other employees were upset with wages, how teachers were paid unequally for the same work and much more. Venn helped his fellow instructors organize a strike even though some of his friends told him it might be illegal.

Nobody was arrested for the strike but Venn and several of his fellow instructors were fired.

The dismissal triggered a range of reactions among those let go.

“…we all walked out together — shocked, red faced, laughing, satisfied,” Venn wrote in his journal.

They shared a sense of gratification several days later when the school’s owner granted pay increases to all of its instructors, including one who also received two months back pay.

Upon reflecting on the strike, Venn said he would follow a less confrontational path today in a similar situation.

“I was too heavy-handed. I would do something quite different now. I would be more collaborative,” Venn said.

Venn began working on “Wallking Spain” in 2020. The writer had to put the project on hold in 2021 because of health problems but was excited to be back at it again in 2022.

“I felt a compelling need to start writing again, to share that life I knew nearly 60 years ago, a time of adventure, energy and discovery,” Venn said.

Venn traveled as a hitchhiker for much of his journey across Spain. He remains indebted to those who gave him rides across portions of Europe, not only for picking him up when they saw his thumb in the air but also for sharing stories.

“The red flash of those brake lights always cheered my wandering soul,” wrote Venn, who could talk easily with those providing him lifts because he spoke Spanish fluently after studying it at the College of Idaho and living in Ecuador from 1963-64.

Images of people Venn met during his journey are plentiful in his book. They are found in collages at the start of each of the book’s 12 chapters which also include images of travel documents, maps and postcards. Venn credits Kristin Summers, of Redbat Design of La Grande, with doing an excellent job of composing the colorful collages.

Academic cover story

Venn went to Europe originally intending to study for an academic year at the University of Salamanca in northwestern Spain. Venn believes in his subconscious, he never seriously intended to take classes at Salamanca but instead was using the university as a starting point for a hitchhiking trip across Spain.

The future author began attending classes at the Spanish university on Oct. 13, 1965, but 17 days later his days as a student were in the rearview mirror because he was kicked out of school. Still, he was anything but upset. Venn’s Nov. 1, 1965, journal entry makes this clear.

“Got expelled from the famous university today. No more stuffed shirt boring monologues for me. No more cold classroom, no more being the only foreign student in the room. … I didn’t care. I’m tired of being a student,” Venn wrote.

The urge to explore Spain and meet its people had trumped what turned out to be a lukewarm interest in attending the University of Salamanca for a year.

“My academic cover story, ‘The Junior Year Abroad,’ turns out to be a fiction I’d invented to justify my desire to explore,” Venn wrote.

The author may have been expelled from the University of Salamanca but his life in academia was far from over. Venn returned to the College of Idaho in the fall of 1966 and graduated in 1967. He next earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Montana and in 1970 landed a faculty position at Eastern Oregon University where he ran its creative writing program. He was at Eastern through 2002 when he received the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Once described by former Oregonian columnist Jonathon Nicholas as the “Literary Lion of La Grande,” Venn has written 10 books, five poetry books and five works of nonfiction. Venn, who also edited numerous books, has received many honors. In addition to the one for “Walking Spain,” he received the Oregon Book Award, the Stewart Holbrook Literacy Legacy Award and the Poetry in Motion Award from the National Book Foundation.

For information on obtaining copies of “Walking Spain,” which contains 14 color collages, visit the Wake-Robin Press website at wake-robinpress.com/spain.

Once described by former Oregonian columnist Jonathon Nicholas as the Literary Lion of La Grande, George Venn has written 10 books, five poetry books and five works

of nonfiction.