Lawrence Spann

Lawrence Spann grew up in Buffalo, NY, and sought solace in books and writing early. After graduating as an English major from the University of Miami, he worked as a garbage man, child care worker, construction laborer, ocean lifeguard, and firefighter/paramedic before completing physician assistant training at Duke University. Spann was Program Director of Duke University’s Preventive Approach to Cardiology (DUPAC) and Executive Director of the Lifestyle Heart Trial in Sausalito, CA. At fifty, he completed a Ph.D. in creative writing, emphasizing the medical humanities, and conceived a therapeutic writing project, the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Program (LAMP) at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, CA. Spann hosted hundreds of writing groups, brought in well-known authors, and published Poet Healer and Blood on the Page. LAMP received national attention as the first hospital-based writing program to appear on “Literary Row” at the biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. Later relocating to Santa Barbara, he resumed clinical practice and began A Parable of Lies. At the same time, his spouse, Elizabeth Ann Robinson, completed her doctorate in mythology and depth psychology and finished her book, The Soul of the Nurse. Spann’s work aims to make the unconscious conscious through writing.