Nance Van Winckel reads James McAuley’s “Winter Drive”

This week Spokane poet Nance Van Winckel brings us a week in memory of James McAuley. Jim was a popular poet and teacher at EMU who died this fall. He co-founded the Creative Writing Program at Eastern Washington University with John Keeble.

James J. McAuley passed away on October 26th, 2021. A long battle with his illness ensued. A passionate, ardent, productive, and highly formal poet from Ireland, he worked for many years at EMU, founding and teaching the Creative Writing Program, passing on his incomparable passion to those endeavors. Eventually he founded what was then EMU Press and continued to work until he retired and returned to his native Dublin, Ireland. He leaves behind his sons and wife Deirdre.

The memorial service was held Tuesday November 2nd by Newman University Press, Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

Dan Webster wrote a profile of James McAuley for the Spokesman Review of his resignation from EMU in 1998.

On December 28th and 29th, KPBX will present two half-hour interviews that Phyllis Silver conducted with James McAuley in 1983. That’ll be on the bookshelf at 6:30 p.m.