Office: Mish ee twie 1225A
Email: aspagna@wvc.edu 

B.A., English, University of Oregon
M.A., English, Northern Arizona University
MFA, Creative Writing, Fairfield University

Ana Maria Spagna is the author of several books including, most recently, the nonfiction narrative PUSHED: Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre. Set in North Central Washington in the late 1800s, Pushed explores the history of Chinese immigrants in the region as well as xenophobia more broadly in the American West. Her work has been recognized by the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize, the Nautilus Book Awards, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Awards, Washington State Artist Trust Grants for Artists Program, as a seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and as a four-time finalist for the Washington State Book Award. After working many years on backcountry trail crews for the National Park Service, she turned to teaching including at Whitman College, St. Lawrence University, the University of Montana, and at Wenatchee Valley College since fall 2023.

Books

Nonfiction

Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre. Torrey House Press. 2023

Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going. University of Washington Press. 2018

Reclaimers. University of Washington Press. 2015

100 Skills You’ll Need for the End of the World (as We Know It). Storey Publishing. 2015

Potluck: Community on the Edge of Wilderness. Oregon State University Press. 2011

Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey. University of Nebraska Press. 2010

 Now Go Home: Wilderness, Belonging and the Crosscut Saw. Oregon State University Press. 2004

Fiction

The Luckiest Scar on Earth. Torrey House Press. 2017.

Poetry

Mile Marker Six. Finishing Line Press. 2021.

 

Essays in anthologies

“To the Knobs” In Stories from the Trail: Field Notes on Moving Through the Wild. Edited by Heidi Barr. Wayfarer Books. 2024.

“Dear XXX” In Abrazos & Letters from Self to the World. Edited by Adriana Páramo. Writing for Peace. 2021

“This Land is (Still) Our Land” In Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance & Democracy. Edited by Elizabeth Dodd. Trinity University Press. 2020

“Another Strand.” In For the Love of Orcas. Edited by Jill McCabe Johnson. Wandering Aegnus Press. 2019

“So Many Rings.” In The Spirit of Disruption: Landmark Essays from the Normal School. Edited by Steven Church. Outpost 19. 2018

“More than Noise.” In From Curlers to Chainsaws. Edited by Joyce Dyer and Jennifer Cognard-Black. Michigan State University Press. 2015

“Pick it Up.” In Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workplace. Edited by Carolyne Wright, Mary Baylor, and Eugenia Toledo. Lost Horse Press. 2015

“Now Go Home.” In Telling Oregon’s Stories: The Oregon State University Press at 50. Oregon State. 2011

“On the Spot: Toward a Glacier’s Edge.” In The Face of the Earth. Edited by SueEllen Campbell. University of California Press. 2011

“La Linea.” In Telling it Real: The Best of Pilgrimage 2003-2008. Edited by Peter Anderson. Pilgrimage Press. 2010

“The Woman Who Gardens With Bears.” In Wild Moments: Adventures with Animals of the North. Edited by Michael Engelhard. University of Alaska Press. 2009

“Saw Chips in My Bra.” In A Mile in Her Boots: Women Who Work in the Wild. Edited by Jennifer Bove. Traveler’s Tales/Solas House. 2006

“A View from Teensy Town.” In City Limits: Walking Portland’s Boundary. Edited by David Oates. Oregon State. 2006

“Fire Ban.”  In Best Essays NW. Edited by Guy Maynard and Kathleen Holt. University of Oregon Press. 2003