Josephine Giles
Poet
About
Harry Josephine Giles is a poet and performer from Orkney, now living in Leith, Edinburgh. A Scots and Gaelic speaker, she writes about minority cultures, social ecology and liberatory politics. Her verse novel Deep Wheel Orcadia, a love story in two languages, won the 2022 Arthur C. Clarke award for science fiction book of the year, and characterises her playful and genre-crossing approach to literature.
An accomplished performer of her own work, Harry Josephine has an MA in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Stirling. With a background in contemporary theatre – her 2014 one-to-one performance What We Owe was listed in the Guardian’s pick-of- the-Fringe in the ‘But is it art?’ section – she crosses the boundaries between page and stage, working in poetry as a live artform. Her books Drone and Deep Wheel Orcadia have both been adapted for stage in collaboration with musicians, and her performances have toured internationally to Italy, Romania, Poland, Slovenia, Latvia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Harry Josephine is a keen birdwatcher and hillwalker, drawing from Scotland’s environment and history to address contemporary concerns. Her work writes trans stories back into Scottish culture, such as Who Will be Remembered Here’s reimagining of the broch builders for Historic Environment Scotland, Attis in Caledon’s Catullus translation for the British Museum, and Unco’s research into a queer Scots lexicon for the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She is currently writing a poem for every mountain she has climbed.