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Emily Ransdell

 

Emily Ransdell’s poems have appeared in The Cortland Review, Tar River Poetry, Whitefish Review, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Montana and is a coordinator of the annual Manzanita PoetryFest on the North Oregon Coast. She divides her time between Manzanita and Camas, WA.

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What’s on your nightstand right now?

Temperance Creek by Pamela Royes, Eat Istanbul, and an ever-changing tower of poetry books, which at this moment includes Ross Gay, Kevin Young, Dorianne Laux, Faith Sherin, and the anthology All We Can Hold (Sage Hill Press, Spokane)

Are you more likely to buy a print book or ebook? 

Print! Ebooks are strictly for the convenience of vacation reading–novels I would never revisit. My Kindle is so old it kind of clunks when I press the button to turn the page.

Tell us about your favorite bookstore.

Cloud and Leaf in Manzanita, Oregon is tiny, but crammed with great stuff. It takes the phrase “beach read” to a whole new level.

What book made the biggest impression on you as a kid?

I can’t choose just one. The ABC Bunny, which I can still quote, but only up to E. A Wrinkle in Time. Little Women.  Anything by LM Montgomery, whose character in Emily of New Moon inspired my mother to name me Emily.

Tell us about your writing routine. Do you have a favorite time or place to write?

No routine, but I do more writing at the coast than anywhere else. About once a month I drop in to the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita to attend their open writing lounge on Tuesday mornings. More often than not, I leave with the bones of a new poem.