I am Emily Iris Degn, and I tell stories about place.
I write about the terrains that raised us and the landscapes we’re losing in the face of ecological catastrophe, climate injustice, and the practice of othering. I weave nature, eco-feminism, interconnection, and culture together, often dipping into folklore and myth to tell the truth: the climate crisis is an identity crisis.
I am the author of “Warmly, The Wild,” a full-length eco-poetry collection that questions established ideas of wildness, explores North Americans’ sense of place, and unfolds as a love letter to nature, from nature. I’m also the 2026-2027 Writer in Residence at the Seattle Public Library in the Pacific Northwest’s UNESCO City of Literature, where I’m completing my first climate-fiction novel. I’m a Best of the Net nominee, and my essays, poems, flash fiction pieces, and artwork have been published in dozens of journals around the world, including About Place Journal x Black Earth Institute, Lunch Ticket, and Stonecrop Magazine. I’m also a published landscape painter, photographer, and nature artist.
Warmly, The Wild is a love letter to nature, from nature. Written over the course of many years spent outside across North America, the collection reflects on humankind’s ideas about wildness, sense of place, and relationship with the climate crisis. Centered on interconnection, the poems conjure up visions of parking lot trees harboring just as much “nature” as protected National Parks, hickory tree history along the Roanoke River, Salish Sea summers losing their distinctive cool air, mountaintop removal in Appalachia, Red Winged Blackbird calls, forests welcoming grief, pink skies above burning Canadian coastlines, magenta-stained fingers picking blackberries, ancient seas in Utahn canyons, bonfires as an ancestral ritual, and breathing pavement in New York City. The poetry delves into the terrains that raised us and the way that a sense of place defines who we end up becoming. Warmly, The Wild, at its core, is a meditation on the tether between humankind and nature, which, in the end, are the same.
“This poetry feels like watching a sunset on a perfect day, ethereal and timeless. Emily captured how wonderful nature truly is.”
–Leah Thomas, author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, TIME100 NEXT member, founder of Intersectional Environmentalist
“Evocative, lush, and earnest, Warmly, The Wild is a beautiful ode to nature and what makes our lives worth living.”
–Juhea Kim, internationally bestselling author of Beasts Of A Little Land, City Of Night Birds, and A Love Story from the End of the World; Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist; Yasnaya Polyana Award winner
“Warmly, the Wild will forever find a home on my shelf of nature-based poetry, for this is my love, what I turn to in quiet afternoons: perfectly rendered words that speak to the vibrant joys of the natural world, give voice to the sorrows, remind us to notice and give thanks. I, too, crave The Wild, and this gorgeous collection offers just that.”
–Laura Pritchett, winner of the PEN USA Award in Fiction, Milkweed National Fiction Prize, the WILLA, the High Plains Book Award; director of the MFA in Nature Writing at WCU; playwright of Dirt: A Terra Nova Expedition; author of Playing With (Wild) Fire, The Blue Hour, Red Lightning, and others
Warmly, The Wild from Finishing Line Press is out now! You can purchase your hardcover or paperback copy at Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, and many other major outlets around the world. I’m also proud to announce that Indie bookstores everywhere are also stocking my book, from Powell’s in Portland to Hatchard’s in London to Book Soup in West Hollywood.
Filled with original landscape paintings done by me (including the cover) and organized by season to align with the Wheel of the Year, “Warmly, The Wild” is for anyone who wants to feel closer to nature and, by consequence, themselves.
2026 Book Tour
May 25
Warmly, The Wild x The Northwest Folklife Festival
Seattle Center
Seattle, WA
June 1
Warmly, The Wild Field Trip
Washington Park
Anacortes, WA
Warmly, The Wild Field Trip
Washington State Ferries
Clinton, WA
June 17
Solstice Reading: Summer
Harbour Pointe
Remote and Mukilteo, WA
June 21
Solstice Seaweed Art & Water Poetry Reading
Picnic Point Beach
Edmonds, WA
July 8
Book Fairy & Signing
City Hall
Seattle, WA
July 22
Book Signing
Moonraker Books
Langley, WA
July 29
Voicemails To The Water: I Came Home to Fidalgo Island Reading
KUOW x NPR
Seattle, WA
Contribute to my book tour fund here
September 6
Warmly, The Wild x Langley Whale Center x The Orca Network
Whale Bell Park
Langley, WA
More events coming soon!
If you would like to be involved as a venue, sponsor, or partner in the Warmly, The Wild 2026 Book Tour, reach out at emirisdegn@gmail.com! My tour is largely outside across the Pacific Northwest, and involves book signings, readings, hands-on workshops, performances, Q&A’s, and other author events.
I’m open to collaborating with bookshops, conservation and environmental organizations, tourism boards and businesses, outdoor brands, coffee shops, libraries, public parks, airlines, transit authorities, colleges and grade schools, wineries, galleries, makers of sustainable wares, festivals, and fellow artists.
August 30
Book Signing
Barnes & Noble — Northgate Station
Seattle, WA
September 13
Warmly, The Wild Reading (Private Event)
Seattle Public Library
Seattle, WA
Find my essays, poetry, flash fiction, photography, and artwork in…
