Meet Anna: An Interview with the Author

Anna Ehrenman is a captivating human being. She has a sharp and perceptive scientific mind that is powerfully combined with an other-worldly, wistful beauty. From the moment you meet her, you know that she has something unique to offer to the world, and you are sure she is about to say something fascinating.

The editors at Harbour Draft had the pleasure of being able to interview Anna, and we're thrilled to be able to share some of what we learned with you. So, without further ado, here's a glimpse into the mind and life of the author of “The Almond of My Mind: The Poetry of Neuroscience and Love,” Anna Ehrenman.

What can you share about your Australian heritage and how it influences your work?

I grew up in the States, but my family culture involved much Australian influence in what we read, said, and such. Australians allow for no nonsense. I have spent time in Australia, often living there for up to a month. The culture is very relaxed, blunt, and open, reckoning with an often forbidding environment depriving Australians of the luxury of passive-aggressiveness. I spent time there during the 2019 fires. Witnessing ash falling from the sky onto my outstretched hands and resting snowflake-like on my hair will never leave my memory.

Do you write anything other than poetry?

I write novels, summaries of research I search for in my free time, novellas, and essays on various political, scientific, historical, and literary topics which capture my interest. Once an idea seizes my mind, I can’t find peace until the idea reaches the page.

I find the rhythms of existing, navigating life’s currents, to be the conductor of all my sources of inspiration. Without the outlet of writing, all this music of life, so to speak, would find no release but through singing words others have written.

What are some fun and random facts about you?

I’ve been a soccer fan and player since memory serves me, Chelsea FC (English Champions League team) has my loyalty. I’ve never made meringue successfully. I’ve hiked in the Alps during a thunderstorm. I can eat an entire peanut butter frosted mochi cake by myself. When asking some friends what they consider fun and random facts about me, they answered that I run off of Bang energy drinks. I’m always in motion—tapping my feet, running in place, drumming my fingers....

What are your interests outside of science and writing?

I love reading and researching topics, whether they be on world history, origins of words, or Elon Musk and Grimes’ bizarre dynamic. I love classics such as Austen's works and All Quiet on the Western Front as well as more modern books, such as C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich....

I love math, calculus in particular, because of its beauty and applicability in the real world. Once I started deriving and integrating functions, I saw them everywhere in the motions of all things, such as the graph of square-root functions formed by raindrops on the window of a moving car.

How would you describe yourself as a writer?

I’m passionate about pursuing truth, illustrating beauty, and peeling back the layers of human nature through a personally crafted lens of science, philosophy, nature, and pre-20th century thought and storytelling. I hope to create a timeless-feeling, fantastical universe of writing in which readers can lose themselves and emerge feeling revived.

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