364: How Writing Is Like Walking a Tightrope — Interview with Ana Maria Spagna

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ana Maria Spagna.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ana Maria is the author of</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and several previous nonfiction books on nature, work, civil, indigenous, and LGBTQ rights. Her previous books include:</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Reclaimers</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, stories of elder women reclaiming sacred land and water, which was a finalist for the 2016 Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists, the memoir/history</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, winner of the 2010 River Teeth literary nonfiction prize,</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">100 Skills You’ll Need for the End of the World (as We Know It)</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">which is a humor-infused exploration of how to live more lightly on the planet, and two essay collections,</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Potluck</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Now Go Home</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. </span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;"><br /></span><span style= "font-weight: 400;"><br /></span><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Her first novel for young people,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Luckiest Scar on Earth</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, about a 14 year-old snowboarder and her activist father, released in 2017, and her first chapbook of poetry,</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Mile Marker Six</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, will appear from Finishing Line Press this fall. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ana Maria’s work has been recognized by the Nautilus Book Awards, the Pacific