Education
M.A., Northern Arizona University, English - Fiction Writing emphasis, 1996
B.A., Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, English Literature, 1989
Biography
Ana Maria Spagna, MFA is the author of several books including, most recently, the braided nonfiction narrative PUSHED: Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre, and the poetry chapbook, Mile Marker Six. Her previous books on nature, work, civil, indigenous, and LGBTQ rights, include Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going, Reclaimers, stories of elder women reclaiming sacred land and water, a finalist for the Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists, the memoir/history Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey, winner of the River Teeth literary nonfiction prize, 100 Skills You’ll Need for the End of the World (as We Know It) a humor-infused exploration of how to live more lightly on the planet, and two previous essay collections, Potluck andNow Go Home. 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, Ana Maria’s essays have appeared in Orion, Ecotone, Sierra, Grist, Brevity, and regularly in High Country News. After working fifteen years on backcountry trail crews, she turned to teaching. In addition to Western, has taught at Whitman College, St. Lawrence University, Antioch University, and as the William Kittredge Distinguished Writer in Residence in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. She lives with her wife, Laurie, in Stehekin, Washington.
Courses taught
- CRWR 685: Nature Writing Prose
- CRWR 689: Special Topics – Writing the Nonhuman
Publications
Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre. Torrey House Press. 2023
Mile Marker Six. Finishing Line Press. 2021
Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going. University of Washington Press. 2018
The Luckiest Scar on Earth. Torrey House Press. 2017
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
