Mirror Northwest returns: Wenatchee Valley College revives literary journal

WENATCHEE — Arts culture in Wenatchee is undergoing a sort of renaissance these days. There has, of course, always been a vibrant theater “scene” here in the Valley. There’s never been a dearth of music here, but the number of incredibly talented local musicians is at an all-time high, as is the number of performances.

Visual art galleries and pop-up exhibitions featuring painters are happening all over town, rather than just in the Two Rivers showroom. We’re even seeing unconventional art forms like pottery taking hold with new co-ops and studios cropping up in places large and small.

But apart from the Write on the River Conference, which is itself back after 7 years away, we had not previously seen any particular showcase for the immense literary talent we know exists here in the Valley, other than a single monthly gathering assembled over the last two and a half years by poetry impresario Holly Thorpe, held up in Leavenworth.

Now, Wenatchee Valley College is proving that they are an epicenter for this renaissance by reintroducing Mirror Northwest, their annual literary and arts journal, back for the first time since it was last published in 2017, although it is thought to have originated (its history is hazy) in the late 1960s. In the pages of Mirror Northwest, you’ll find poetry, short fiction and essays, in addition to artwork and photographs from writers and artists at the college and across Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties.

After the naming of their English professor Derek Sheffield as Washington State Poet Laureate, it suddenly seems like WVC is arts and literature central. In fact, it seems important to familiarize yourself with the school’s Grove Recital Hall and the MAC Gallery — the Music and Arts Center at WVC — which will be the site of “LitKnight,” an event sponsored by the WVC Foundation.

Their return issue is chock-full of submissions from students at the college, but organizers are eager to point out that submissions will be welcome from the public as well for future issues. The re-release of the journal itself came on so suddenly that there wasn’t time to solicit them this time around. Submissions for the 2026 edition of Mirror Northwest will open to the public in Fall 2025.

It’s clear that the aforementioned Holly Thorpe had some hand in naming the event that coincides with the restoration of the journal, since “LitKnight” sounds so much like “LitMic,” which is the monthly event that she’s been hosting since September of 2022. But Holly’s not alone as a faculty advisor. She’s also got Ana Maria Spagna and Arius Elvikis with her in this effort, as well as student editors Anessa Hanson (literary editor) and Sara Bender (art editor).

The project was resurrected in 2023, when Thorpe and Spagna both began working at the school. They had heard about it from Sheffield, and immediately set to work on bringing it back.

Ana Maria Spagna spoke to us by phone and emphasized the fact that even though this issue is all internally-sourced, they’re anxious to get submissions from the public. “We want this to be representative of everyone’s voices,” she says. “I feel like there are a lot of people who will be interested in this who don’t even know it right now,” she continues, “and theirs might be just the voice we need.”

LitKnight will be at Grove Recital Hall on Thursday, May 15 from 6–8 p.m. and will feature writers and artists who contributed to the inaugural issue of the reborn journal reading their work and speaking about their art. Then the event moves to the MAC Gallery for a reception afterward. Wenatchee Valley College is at 1300 Fifth Street in Wenatchee.

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