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Harry Josephine Giles
Harry Josephine Giles is a writer and performer from Orkney, now living in Leith. She has lived on four islands, each larger than the last. She has a MA in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Stirling. Harry Josephine's work generally happens in the crunchy places where performance and politics get muddled up.
As a poet, Harry Josephine has toured globally, given feature sets at venues from the Bowery Poetry Club to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, performed at festivals from the New Zealand Writers Festival to Montreal’s Metropolis Bleu. Her verse novel Deep Wheel Orcadia was published by Picador in October 2021 and won the 2022 Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction book of the year. Her poetry collections — Tonguit (Freight Books 2015) and The Games (Out-Spoken Press 2018) — were shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award (twice), the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the Saltire Poetry Book of the Year. Her latest book is Them! (Picador 2024).
Harry Josephine has been Scottish Book Trust reader in residence at West Lothian Libraries, and run writing workshops and courses for organisations like LGBT Health & Wellbeing, Glasgow Disability Alliance, the Centre for Stewardship, alongside many schools and local authorities. She has had residencies as diverse as Govanhill Baths, Glen Nevis, Pitgaveny Farms and the Crichton Carbon Centre. Her themes include the environment, island culture, LGBT issues, minority language, and living a joyous life.
(Works in Scots)