About Me

I've kept a personal journal since I was nine years old, and on the merit of that fact, I feel entitled to call myself a writer. I'm also a mama of two young children, a high school English teacher, an outdoor enthusiast, a reader-of-literature-while-in-the-outdoors (or just stretched out on a couch somewhere), and day-dream believer. I love lakes. And ice creamAnd conversation.

This website, begun as a blog in 2010, is where I first gave myself permission to write publicly. Many good things have happened since then--publications, conferences, speaking gigs, business contacts, awards, and grants--often as a direct result of this space.  Although I am here infrequently now, it's my anchor in the online world, and as I finish this novel I'm working on and eventually return to the essays I have on the back-burner, I hope you check in and stay connected. Isn't it always a great day when someone new says hi?  





I have an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. My essays, stories, and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including The Washington Post, Creative Nonfiction's True Story, Creative Nonfiction's Sunday Shorts, The Writer's Chronicle, Orion, River Teeth, Hippocampus Magazine, Ninth Letter, Two Hawks Quarterly, The Fourth River, december magazine, under the gum tree, Atticus Review, Santa Fe Literary Review, Grub Street Literary Review, Porcupine Lit, New Plains Review, Sweet, Lumina, New South, Saw Palm, Tahoma Literary Review, Armchair/Shotgun, Split Rock Review, Midway Journal, Brain,Child, Motherwell, Mamalode, Literary Mama, Grown and Flown, Tribe,  Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, National Park Foundation, Birmingham Arts Journal, The Talking Stick, A View From The Loft, Dust and Fire, Third Wednesday, Minnesota English Journal, Every Day Poets, The Backcountry Journal, MinnPost.com, Adventum Magazine, A Harp in the Stars: An Anthology of Lyric Essays anthology, the Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach anthology, several radio broadcasts and podcasts, and four Roadside Poetry billboards. I've presented on writing and blogging at The Loft Literary Center's Nature and Environmental Writing Conference and the Chanhassen Writer's Fair, and taught adult writing classes through Minnetonka Community Education and the Hennepin County Library System. I'm a Curt Johnson Prose Award finalist, a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, and a Minnesota Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant recipient. I live just west of Minneapolis with my family. 

You can connect with me on Instagram here 
(mostly kiddos, nature, books, and the occasional longform caption).

Or on Twitter here (though I haven't logged on in maybe three years).

Or there's good ol' email at emilybrisse [at] gmail [dot] com.

And if you haven't already, sign up for my (very occasional) newsletter
I appreciate this community so much.


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Comments

  1. I always love reading "abouts" and yours is definitely more interesting than many! I live in Worthington, MN, (well, Bigelow, actually) though I grew up far from here - which I often blog about, at least incidentally to my MN thoughts!

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  2. Worthington, huh. :) My parents grew up in Pipestone, and we visit Lake Shetek often. Beautiful part of the state. Can't wait to read more of your musings about that area!

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  3. Emily - thanks for visiting my blog. I've read a number of your pieces. You write so beautifully and evocatively, noticing oft-hidden details and bringing them to life. Thank you. I look forward to reading more.

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  4. Thanks, Abi. Hope you find a few things that inspire you here.

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  5. Hello thee, Emily! Thank you so much for stopping by my place. I just took a few minutes to look around your home. There are so many lovely facets to your blog and I need more time to delve into them. Your photography is sublime and your writing is so fresh and easy! Please do me a favor and add your blog in THE SASS LOUNGE in the "Landscape" and "Nature" sections....I would love to share your blog with other photo enthusiasts! I will definitely be coming back and chatting again! Have a great day and keep on clicking!

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    1. Did so with pleasure. Thank for popping over here and taking a look around. :)

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  6. Hi Emily,
    greetings from the other side of world. I came here via Otto's blog and I wanted to say I enjoyed reading your pieces and looking at your photographs. Nice work :-)

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    1. Thanks, Geoff! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a note. Makes my day!

      I've always been fascinated with the other side of the world: I certainly hope to get to Australia soon. Cheers!

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  7. This is a beautiful blog, Emily. It's always nice to see another soul who loves the earth in it's barest form.

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    1. Thanks, Camille. And I agree. You might not guess it by watching the evening news, but there are a lot of us bare-earth lovers walking the soil. :)

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  8. Emily - I adore you already... you 'Ways To Say' was a delight to read. Thank-you so much for visiting with me in my Parlour... I look forward to coming back & getting to know you through your words & pictures - have a lovely day ;-)

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    1. Hi Debra, and thanks for stopping over. So glad you liked the Ways to Say series. That was a fun one for me to put together!

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  9. Hej Emily,
    since you stopped by and read some of my blogramblings, I thought I'd pay your blog a visit, too. Thank you for the comment, by the way.
    I have to admit it is a pleasant one to read. It certainly has a dreamy, poetic feel about it and yet a clear way of showing what's on your mind. And for me it is refreshing to read a blog about nature and all it's related subjects from a woman's point of view.
    Wishing you all the best from a white and frozen Sweden!

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    1. Thank you, Ron! Nature et. al. is one of my main passions in life--it stirs me in ways that little else can--so I find that's what I most want to write about. So glad you enjoyed what you found here. Hope you stop back in the near future!

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  10. Hello Emily! I am putting a link to your web blog on mine. Your writing and photography are great and I'm a fellow Minnie! My blog is at marshallbutcharmstrong.com. It's called The Window. I'm following you by email and if it's alright I might reblog you once in a while. Bye!

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    1. Marshall -- Just saw this now (obviously I've been a bit preoccupied!). Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind comments. Am heading over to your blog pronto!

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  11. Hello Emily! I am putting a link to your web blog on mine. Your writing and photography are great and I'm a fellow Minnie! My blog is at marshallbutcharmstrong.com. It's called The Window. I'm following you by email and if it's alright I might reblog you once in a while. Bye!

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  12. Beautiful site, Emily. I've followed you now and look forward to more.

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  13. emily,
    richard havenga recommended i read your blog. i am a writer (i say this only bc i love to write), a mother of a two year old (who after reading one of your entries i know we have a kinship here), and i live in portland oregon. i'm originally a michigander. :)

    your words are beautiful and i feel lucky to have taken the time to listen to mr. havenga's recommendation.

    be well and looking forward to hearing more,
    megan

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    1. Hi Megan,

      Thanks so much for dropping by! Yes, if you are both a mother and a writer (and some one who appreciates the natural world, like Richard), then I believe and hope you've found a kindred space. Please stop over again and leave a comment if something resonates with you. Glad you meet you in this virtual way. :)

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  14. Hi- Just discovered your site and it is lovely! Glad to have found a fellow nature lover mama writer.
    Cheers,
    Amanda

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    1. I'm responding an entire year later! Terrible, but indicative of life as a nature lover mama writer. :) Thanks for stopping by, Amanda. Hope you are well!

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