Tracey Herd

Tracey Herd is a poet. Her work was first published while she was an undergraduate at Dundee University in New Women Poets edited by Carol Rumens (Bloodaxe, 1990).  She received an Eric Gregory Award in 1993 and a Scottish Arts Council bursary in 1995.

Her first collection, No Hiding Place (Bloodaxe, 1996), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for ‘Best First Collection’. Between 1998 and 2001, Tracey was Creative Writing Fellow at Dundee University. Dead Redhead, her second collection with Bloodaxe, appeared in 2001 and was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. In 2002 she collaborated on a short opera, Descent, with the composer Gordon McPherson for Paragon Ensemble which was performed at the Traverse Theatre in Glasgow. In 2004 she received a second Scottish Arts Council bursary. Tracey is working on a third collection of poetry. Her main interests are Russian history and horse-racing. In 1998 she participated in the Bloodaxe/British Council Russian Poetry Festival, giving readings and workshops in Moscow and Ekaterinburg. Her poetry has been translated into Russian and has appeared on the Russian metro. In 2000 she was invited to Musselburgh racecourse where her poems were broadcast over the tannoy and a short poem, ‘Sir Ivor’, was printed in the racecard.

Tracey’s third book, Not in this World, was published by Bloodaxe in November 2015, and was a PBS Choice and shortlisted for the T.S Eliot Prize.