Emily Iris Degn (she/her) is the founder, creative director, and editorial director of Blinter Magazine. You can reach her at emirisdegn@gmail.com. Visit her LinkedIn or website to learn more about her work. To book her for editorial strategy, writing, or other services, head here.
The thousands of articles that Emily’s written over the course of her decade-long career have appeared all over, from USA Today to Explore Washington State to Yahoo Travel. She has executed editorial collaborations with The New York Times, conducted interviews with high-profile chefs and global leaders, built out the sustainability coverage at Luxury Daily, done on-site reportage above the Arctic Circle, developed a climate column for USA Today 10Best, and much more. She regularly collaborates with tourism boards, publications, and other parties to tell great stories that inspire people to see the world and care about the state of it. She specializes in place-based, environmental, and adventurous storytelling, and is currently the 2026-2027 Writer in Residence of The Seattle Public Library. In collaboration with the UNESCO City of Literature, she’s working on her second book, a climate-fiction novel that explores the link between climate crisis and identity crisis; ecological trauma and generational trauma. Dozens of her shorter creative writing works have been published in journals like Stonecrop and About Place Journal x Black Earth Institute as well, all of which exploring themes of ecofeminism, nature, and wildness. She’s also the author of “Warmly, The Wild,” a book from Finishing Line Press about terrains that raised us, concepts of wildness, and climate change (it’s out now, internationally).
Based in: The Salish Sea (Mukilteo).
Topics of expertise: Eco-tourism, climate justice, sustainable luxury travel, oceans, biophilic design, intersectional environmentalism, slow travel, conservation, cultural heritage, and place-based storytelling across regions, including the Pacific Northwest, Scandinavia, Iceland, Brazil, and the UK.
Languages: English (native), Portuguese (fluent), Spanish (fluent comprehension/reading, intermediate speaking/writing), French (intermediate comprehension/reading), Italian (intermediate comprehension/reading), Icelandic (beginner comprehension/reading), Danish (beginner comprehension/reading), Norwegian (beginner comprehension/reading).
Education: BS Environmental Studies (Climate Justice focus), BA Creative Writing, CONC Gender & Women’s Studies, AA Art History (Depictions of Nature focus – Ancient Egyptian, Medieval European, Viking traditions).
Certifications: C2C Sustainability Leadership Training (Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College), ESRI ArcGIS Desktop Professional, Covering Climate Now Newsroom Cohort, Diploma in Tourism Studies (Global Text Project), Culinary Arts (Bridgerland Technical College).
When Emily isn’t on assignment, she loves to… Hike, kayak, beachcomb, travel, read, cook (she used to be a chef!), make nature art, go on long walks and bike rides, eat overstuffed veggie sandwiches, watch films, climb trees, go to concerts, and forage in the forest in her beach town on the Salish Sea.
Favorite trip ever taken: Backpacking through Iceland for a month with her partner.
Favorite cuisine: Himalayan.
Favorite book: “Dandelion Wine” by Ray Bradbury or “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Favorite film: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.
3 Favorite National Parks: Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and North Cascades.
10 interesting facts about Emily: 1) She sang in a local sea shanty band for many years. 2) She’s explored all the Lower 48 states and has moved over 30 times. 3) She loves to Indo Board and Ripstik. 4) She lived in the Atlantic Rainforest region of Brazil for most of 2016. 5) She’s an outspoken member of the LGBTQ2+ community and exmormon, and now identifies as an agnostic pagan. 6) When she was 13, she won a state literature contest for a poem she wrote about a tree she loved very much. 7) She collects all kinds of things she finds in nature, including oyster shells, seaglass, lava rocks, pine cones, and mussel shells. 8) When she decided to go back to school, she picked her college because it was where Annie Dillard wrote “Pilgrim on Tinker Creek,” is a designated Tree Campus, and would allow her to explore environmentalism creatively. 9) She is Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Irish, Scottish, and Cumbrian, and is very connected to and proud of her heritage. 10) As a kid, her art adorned the sides of her town’s recycling trucks because she won an art contest with her sisters.
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