April 3, 2025 

Media Contacts:  
Derek Sheffield, English faculty, 509-682-6737, dsheffield@wvc.edu   
Marcine Miller, Executive Director, Public Information Office, 509-682-6582, mmiller2@wvc.edu 
Joan Qazi, Sustainability coordinator, 509-682-6495, jqazi@wvc.edu 

In celebration of Earth Day and National Poetry Month, the Wenatchee Valley College Visiting Writers Series and Sustainability Committee will host a poetry reading, nature hike, and Zero Waste day on April 22 and 23. These free events are open to the public. 

The poetry reading—featuring Ana Maria Spagna, Jarrett Ziemer, and Susan Sampson—begins at 1:30 p.m. on April 22 in The Grove Recital Hall, Music and Art Center, on the Wenatchee campus. The poets will be joined by WVC Creative Writing students. A Book For All Seasons will have books available for sale at the reading. 

The visiting writers will join Visiting Writers Coordinator Derek Sheffield and Sustainability Coordinator Dr. Joan Qazi in leading a hike at Jacobson Preserve in Wenatchee at 2:45 p.m.  

Zero Waste Wednesday will take place on April 23 and will include a clothing swap and repair station along with information about recycling, food waste composting, and glass crushing. 

Ana Maria Spagna, a WVC English professor, writes about nature, work, community, and history. Her most recent work, “Pushed: Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre,” is an investigation of xenophobia in the Inland Northwest. She is also the author of “Reclaimers,” stories of elder women reclaiming sacred land and water; “Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey,” winner of the River Teeth literary nonfiction prize; and three essay publications, “Uplake,” “Potluck,” and “Now Go Home.” She has also written a novel for young people, “The Luckiest Scar on Earth,” and a poetry chapbook, “Mile Marker Six.”  

Spagna’s work has been recognized by the Society for Environmental Journalists, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and as a four-time finalist for the Washington State Book Awards.  

Susan Sampson retired to North Central Washington after practicing law as a trial lawyer in Seattle for 35 years. Starting with the Northwest Nature Writing course at WVC, she began writing natural and cultural history essays and poems. Her chapbook, “Book of Birds,” won Wild Leek Press’s first chapbook contest. Her essays have appeared in volumes one and two of “Awake in the World, the Montana Anthology,” and her work regularly appears in The Good Life magazine. “A Yard Long,” a close-up examination of the flora and fauna appearing in her yard, was published by Riverfeet Press.  

 In 2025, Sampson became a certified master gardener.  

Jarrett Ziemer’s writing can be found in the About Place Journal, Belmont Story Review, Creative Nonfiction Magazine, on Terrain.org, and in other publications. Ziemer is an assistant poetry editor for Terrain.org. In 2024, he was a Jack Straw Fellow, and his work has been supported with awards from “Deep Wild Journal,” “Dreamers Magazine,” and “The Atlanta Review.” He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Professional and Creative Writing from Central Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Colorado University.    

This Visiting Writers Series event is sponsored by the WVC English Department, WVC Sustainability Committee, A Book for All Seasons, and Write on the River. 

In addition to these events, Sustainable NCW and WVC’s Sustainability Committee will have a community Earth Day Fair at the Wenatchee campus on Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair will feature over 50 vendors and local organizations, along with food trucks, musical groups, Eco-Talks, a tree tour, children’s activities, and a display of electric and hydrogen vehicles. 

 

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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 is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion for all students and employees and 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, Human Resources, Wenatchi Hall 2322M, (509) 682-6445, title9@wvc.edu. 

To request disability accommodations: Student Access Manager, Wenatchi Hall 2131, (509) 682-6854, TTY/TTD: dial 711, sas@wvc.edu.