Ana Maria Spagna to explore story of Chinese miners on the Columbia at WVC

WENATCHEE — Author and Wenatchee Valley College English professor Ana Maria Spagna will share her research into a story about Chinese miners who may have been killed along the Columbia River in 1875 during a free public performance Thursday, Nov. 19.

The performance, “PUSHED,” begins at 6 p.m. in Grove Recital Hall in the Music and Art Center on the college’s Wenatchee campus. It is part of the WVC Speaks lecture series.

The performance draws on Spagna’s 2023 book, “Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre.” According to local lore, as many as 300 Chinese miners were killed and their bodies pushed over a cliff into the Columbia River. Spagna will describe how she investigated the account, including conversations with historians, archaeologists, Indigenous elders and migrant workers.

She will also discuss the history of Chinese immigrants in North Central Washington and compare their experiences with those of immigrant communities today. The evening will include a look at her forthcoming book, “Coiled: Essays on Urgency and Kinship,” due out this fall from Bison Books.

Spagna’s previous books include “Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going,” about her years living in Stehekin, and “Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus,” which won the River Teeth literary nonfiction prize. She is a four-time Washington State Book Award finalist and serves as a faculty adviser to Mirror Northwest, the college’s literary and arts journal.

WVC Speaks began in 2015 and ran annually through 2019. The college brought it back for the 2025-26 academic year with an invitation to the broader community. More information is available at wvc.edu/wvc-speaks.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media