Writers Series - Ana Maria Spagna

Ana Maria Spagna is the author of several awardwinning books including Reclaimers, stories of indigenous women reclaiming sacred land and water; the memoir/ history Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey, winner of the River Teeth literary nonfiction prize; and three essay collections, Potluck, Now Go Home, and most recently, Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going. Her first novel for young people, The Luckiest Scar on Earth, about a 14-year-old snowboarder and her activist father, appeared in 2017.

A four-time finalist for the Washington State Book Award, Spagna’s work has also been recognized by the Society for Environmental Journalists and the Nautilus Book Awards. She has worked on backcountry trail crews for the National Park Service, and has taught at the low-residency MFA programs at Antioch University, Los Angeles, and Western Colorado University. She has also served as the Johnson Visiting Instructor of English at Whitman College and as the Kittredge Distinguished Writer in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. She and her wife live in Stehekin, Washington.

Ana Maria Spagna is the Viebranz Visiting Professor of Creative Writing for 2020-21.