Emma

Pattee

Bestselling Novelist

Climate Journalist and Fiction Writer

Travels from: Portland, OR

“Every gorgeous page pulses with humor, heartbreak, and the horror of human behavior when the unthinkable happens. Emma Pattee has written a smashing debut.” — Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women

Emma Pattee is a climate journalist and fiction writer who has written about climate change for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and more.

In 2021 she coined the term “Climate Shadow” to describe an individual’s potential impact on climate change.

Emma’s fiction has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Idaho Review, New Orleans Review, Carve Magazine, Citron Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review.

Her debut novel, Tilt (March 2025), is a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a USA Today Bestseller, A Best Book of 2025 for Vogue, an NPR favorite fiction read of 2025 and named by Time as one of the “14 Best Books of 2025 So Far.”

Emma's Featured Titles

Tilt: A Novel

S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books |

March 25, 2025

Literary Fiction

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
A USA TODAY Bestseller
A Best Book of 2025 for Vogue
Named by Time one of the “14 Best Books of 2025 So Far”
An NPR favorite fiction read of 2025

Set over the course of a single day, an electrifying debut novel from “a powerful new literary voice” (Vogue) following one woman’s journey across a transformed city, carrying the weight of her past and a fervent hope for the future.

“Utterly gripping.” —NPR, All Things Considered

Last night, you and I were safe. Last night, in another universe, your father and I stood fighting in the kitchen.

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.

“Shocking and full of heart” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Tilt is a “moving adrenaline rush” (The New York Times Book Review) and “epic odyssey” (NPR) about the disappointments and desires we all carry, and what each of us will do for the people we love.

Fiction, Friendship & Community, Mental Health & Overcoming Trauma, Natural World

Climate Shadow

Climate Shadow is a term that Emma coined in 2021 to help shift the conversation around carbon footprints and imagine a more complex evaluation of what each of us is doing to impact climate change.

Emma imagines the climate shadow as a dark shape stretching out behind each of us. Everywhere we go, it goes too, tallying not just our air conditioning use and the gas mileage of our car, but also how we vote, how many children we choose to have, where we work, how we invest your money, how much we talk about climate change, and whether our words amplify urgency, apathy, or denial.

This talk follows her journey as a climate journalist and how she came up with the concept of the climate shadow, as well as giving practical ideas of how it can shape our lives and decisions.

Man Walks Alone With Gun: A Feminist Retelling of End Time Narratives

When Emma started writing her novel, Tilt, about a woman trying to survive a massive earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, she kept running into the same dystopian narrative: the man with the gun saves the day, alone. In movies, in books, in popular culture, this was the dominant narrative of what might happen at the end of the world. Yet it seemed more an ode to American individualism and hyper-masculinity than it was a realistic or even provocative portrayal of what societal breakdown might look like. In fact, an enormous body of research shows that after crisis, humans are more likely to work together, to seek community and connection.

This talk follows her journey of setting off to write a dystopian narrative and then slowly questioning and unwinding some of these tropes, and ending up with a completely different story than the one Emma had set out to tell, and the ways in which that mirrored her journey as a writer and a mother.

“The storytelling in Tilt is brisk [and] as funny as a novel about humanity at its worst can be… Pattee’s ambivalence about human goodness is a powerful thing; it calls into question the assumptions we make about ourselves.” — Washington Post

“Recounting Annie’s precarious journey across the city and into her past, Pattee reveals that the quake has upended more than the earth. A captivating novel.” — Kirkus (starred review)

“Tilt promises wit and style, and reminders of humanity in the face of disaster. A force to be reckoned with.” — Literary Hub, LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025

“Tilt heralds the arrival of a powerful new literary voice.” — Vogue, Best Books of 2025

“[A] fascinating and emotional debut… compelling… Instantly readable and filled with dry humor, this book follows in the footsteps of other disaster novels while bringing a fresh take to the genre.” — Booklist (starred)

“[A] nail-biting debut… Pattee’s depiction of a post-earthquake Portland feels bracingly realistic, and her depictions of marriage and impending motherhood are achingly raw. Shocking and full of heart, this leaves a mark.” — Publisher’s Weekly (starred)

“Tilt is a remarkable debut—a gorgeous, haunting blend of a suspenseful survival thriller and a fierce portrait of maternal love. I was so mesmerized that I blew off all my responsibilities, threw all other reading aside, and blistered through the whole thing in one sitting, loving every moment.” — Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls and Miracle Creek

“Tilt is a swift, exhilarating punch to the gut, the most embodied twenty-four hours of narrative I can remember reading. Through the eyes of the prickly, funny, and very pregnant narrator, we viscerally experience the surreal, unbearable, comic, and beautiful ways that humans behave in a crisis. The Road meets Nightbitch meets What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I loved this novel.” — Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State and Mobility

“An epic natural disaster adventure story starring a pregnant woman on a mission. A nuanced, stark, tender portrait of a marriage. A tale of destruction and loss punctuated by surprising moments of empathy. Emma Pattee’s debut novel Tilt manages to be all of the above, and more. Equal parts heart-wrenching and life-affirming, this riveting book made me laugh, cry, and think. I couldn’t put it down.” — Helen Phillips, author of Hum and The Need

Emma’s Selected Writing

Emma’s Events

Emma’s Substack Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

National Bestseller
New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
USA Today Bestseller
Vogue Best Book of 2025
LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025
NPR Favorite Fiction Read of 2025
Named by Time as one of the “14 Best Books of 2025 So Far”
Finalist, Barnes and Noble Discover Prize