Spotlight On Writers
Emanuel Pope
- Where do you originate from?
I was born in Romania, in the city of Brăila, the hometown of Panait Istrati, a charming port on the Danube, a river slightly smaller than the Mississippi. At the end of the 19th century, Brăila was the second largest grain exchange in the world after New York, a place shaped by the winter gales sweeping across the river, by commerce, and by the stories of sailors arriving from every corner of the world.
As a child, I remember standing in awe as enormous sturgeons were pulled from the Danube and displayed in the market, ancient, almost mythical creatures that could reach six meters in length and nearly eight hundred kilograms.
In 2002 I emigrated, and for more than twenty years I have divided my life between Romania, England, and Ireland, each place adding layer upon layer of sensitivity within me.
- What do you cherish most about the place you call home?
I believe that, because of a deep “sense of belonging,” we become more tolerant toward everything that represents us and everything that meets us on the way back, “home.” We are shaped by our memories, by the places that speak to us with the voice of childhood, by the joyful moments of youth and, why not, even by our defeats, because at home, even those become things that bind us.
- What ignites your creativity?
For a long time, I wrote engaged poetry, a poetry of social revolt because most of the time, what sparked my creativity was injustice. It angered me deeply and opened my soul toward a kind of poetry that became a barricade, with the verse itself turning into a banner flying above it.
Now, however, I cultivate a simple and humble sense of joy toward the world around me, which is something that motivates me and has brought me back to beauty as a pure entity, and to the way it moves through the woven fabric of the world.
- Do you have a favorite word, and could you incorporate it into a poetic phrase?
I have so many favourite words, some in Romanian, others in English, and even a few in Gaelic, but since the magazine’s audience is English‑speaking, I will choose the play between two miraculous words: moor and moon, each of them fluttering like a scarf in the wind. So, a game:
The Moor on the moon
Is as free as his mood,
To fill the saddlebags of his steed
With as much water as he needs.
- What is your pet peeve?
Strangely enough, I inherited a habit my father had about which we used to laugh in the family when I was a child. Yet now I feel an unstoppable force inside me, a voice whispering in my ear: “Get up and clear the plates from the table.” And I do it before a decent amount of time has even passed since the last guest set down their cutlery. Shame on me!
- How would you describe the essence of Emanuel Pope?
It is not easy for me to define myself, but I am an old‑fashioned type, and although there is nothing particularly grand about that, I believe that humanism is what defines me. It is something I care deeply about, and one of the driving forces behind my writing. Old‑fashioned perhaps, but I am one hundred percent anchored in this well‑earned belief in the beauty of the Human Being.
- Spotlight On Writers – Emanuel Pope - August 1, 2026
- Speaking of Butterflies - July 2, 2026
- And Then I Stepped Outside - April 20, 2026
