Zoe Strachan
Email:
zoe.strachan@glasgow.ac.ukWebsite:
www.zoestrachan.comBRAW network:
noLL funded:
yesBiography:
Zoë is the author of three novels: Ever Fallen in Love, Spin Cycle and Negative Space (Picador). The latter won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. Her short stories and essays have been included in numerous journals and anthologies, she contributes journalism to various newspapers and magazines and her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3. She has received various residencies and fellowships including a Hawthornden Fellowship, UNESCO City of Literature residency at the National Museum of Scotland, a Hermann Kesten Stipendium (Germany), and a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship (France). In 2011 she will undertake a British Council visiting fellowship at the University of Iowa. Recent works for theatre are ‘Panic Patterns’ (with Louise Welsh, Citizen’s Theatre and BBC Radio Scotland) and ‘Old Girls’ (which opened the 2009/10 season of A Play, a Pie and a Pint at Oran Mor in Glasgow). Her short opera Sublimation (with composer Nick Fells) toured Scotland in May 2010 with Scottish Opera before going to Cape Town, South Africa in November 2010. She has taught on the Creative Writing Programme at Glasgow University since 2003 and is currently working on a major new project for Scottish Opera.About writer's work:
My main passion is for writing novels, but I’ve also published short stories, essays and journalism, as well as writing drama and other pieces for radio. My fiction tends to be set in Scotland. It’s very character-based, and sometimes explores issues surrounding gender, place, death, memory and sexuality. I think I’m a little bit obsessed with how the past affects the present, and the ways in which stories repeat themselves. In recent years I’ve become more interested in interdisciplinary projects, for example collaborating on the exhibition and publication ‘I throw my prayers into the sky’ (Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia, Germany) with visual artists Laura Murray and David Sherry and writer Louise Welsh, and writing libretti for opera. About writer's events and projects:
I’m happy doing readings with a Q&A session (at festivals, in libraries, wherever!), workshops on specific aspects of writing, and residencies. I enjoy visiting writers’ groups, readers’ groups, libraries and schools. I studied archaeology and have done work in museums, and I’m really interested in visual art, so I’ve often structured workshops around museum and gallery exhibitions. Please contact me by email.
Zoë is a keen supporter of the RNIB Right to Read campaign and has worked with writers with varying degrees of visual impairment. She has also facilitated workshops for writers with histories of mental health issues or learning difficulties, and is always happy to tailor her sessions to suit particular groups and their interests and requirements.
Language:
EnglishAge groups:
Teens, Adults
