James Langlas

A poet, teacher, biographer, and taekwondo instructor, James Langlas earned his BA from University of St. Thomas, his MAT from Northwestern University, and his PhD from Northern Illinois University. He is the author of the book Heart of a Warrior: 7 Ancient Secrets to a Great Life (2012). His poetry was published in Poetry magazine, American Scholar, Indiana Review, and Kansas Quarterly, among other journals.

Langlas taught high school English for many years in Wheaton, Illinois. He also taught taekwando at the dojang founded in 1980, and through Pathways for Achievement: an organization he founded in 1996 that combined after-school-tutoring and community service with taekwondo instruction. Langlas was an 8th degree black belt, Grand Master, who served on the US Taekwondo team, winning a gold medal in the International Taekwondo Federation World Championship in Montreal. The State of Illinois awarded him the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award in 2005 to recognize and honor his love and care for others. He served as chairman of Wheaton’s Community Partners in Poetry, a group dedicated to raising literary awareness and promoting interest in poetry.

Langlas lived in Naples, Florida, and taught at Edison State College and Florida Southwestern State College before his death in 2018.