April 15, 2020

Media Contact:
Derek Sheffield, WVC English faculty, 509-682-6737
Libby Siebens, community relations executive director, 509-682-6436 (Mon.-Thurs.)

Join Wenatchee Valley College professors, Dr. Joan Qazi and Derek Sheffield, online in a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and the publication of “Dear America” on Wednesday, April 22.

This online event will include readings of poetry and prose and a talk on acting locally while thinking globally. It will take place on Zoom (as a videoconference meeting) from 11 a.m. to noon on April 22. The Zoom link is: https://wvc.zoom.us/j/627911231 (meeting ID: 627 911 231).

This event is free and open to the public.

Featured guests will include the winners of the WVC student Earth Day poetry contest and guest poet, naturalist, and “Dear America” contributor, Elizabeth Bradfield. 

Writer and naturalist Elizabeth Bradfield is the author of “Toward Antarctica,” “Once Removed,” “Approaching Ice,” “Interpretive Work,” and “Theorem,” a collaboration with artist Antonia Contro. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, West Branch, Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, Orion and elsewhere. For the past twenty-some years, she has worked as a naturalist and guide. Winner of the Audre Lorde Prize from the Publishing Triangle, finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, her awards also include a Stegner Fellowship and a Bread Loaf Scholarship. Founder and editor-in-chief of Broadsided Press and a contributing editor at the Alaska Quarterly Review, Bradfield lives on Cape Cod with her partner and teaches creative writing at Brandeis University. Learn more at ebradfield.com.

“Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy” is a diverse anthology featuring personal essays, narrative journalism, poetry, and visual art from more than 130 contributors. These pieces are all literary reactions to the times we live in, with a focus on civic action and social change as we approach future elections. “Dear America” was edited by Terrain.org editors Simmons Buntin, Elizabeth Dodd, and Derek Sheffield (who is also a WVC English faculty member) and published by Trinity University Press on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2020. All royalties from sale of the book will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Union of Concerned Scientists. Learn more at terrain.org.

This event is sponsored by Associated Students of WVC, WVC Foundation, Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, Write on the River, WVC English department, A Book for All Seasons and WVC Sustainability Committee.

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Wenatchee Valley College enriches North Central Washington by serving educational and cultural needs of communities and residents throughout the service area. The college provides high-quality transfer, liberal arts, professional/technical, basic skills and continuing education for students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. Visit our website, wvc.edu.

Wenatchee Valley College is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in employment and student enrollment. All programs are free from discrimination and harassment against any person because of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a service animal by a person with a disability, age, parental status or families with children, marital status, religion, genetic information, honorably discharged veteran or military status or any other prohibited basis per RCW 49.60.030, 040 and other federal and state laws and regulations, or participation in the complaint process. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies and Title IX compliance for both the Wenatchee and Omak campuses:

• To report discrimination or harassment: Title IX Coordinator, Wenatchi Hall 2322M, (509) 682-6445, title9@wvc.edu.
• To request disability accommodations: Director of Student Access, Wenatchi Hall 2133, (509) 682-6854, TTY/TTD: dial 711, sas@wvc.edu.