Publications

  • The Raven's Song (Creative Scotland): Inspired by raven and crow myths from Orkney, Shetland and Canada; illustrated by Catherine Hiley (2015)
  • Hrafn Floki (The Written Image, Scottish Poetry Library and Edinburgh Printmakers, 2014): handmade limited-edition poem inspired by the Norse myth; one copy purchased by the National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; illustrated by Catherine Hiley
  • Skirlags (Red Squirrel Press, 2009): First poetry collection, shortlisted for Callum Macdonald Award (2010)
  • Slokt By Sea (Red Squirrel Press, 2010): Poetry 
  • Swimming Pools and Gardens (Forest Publications, Edinburgh, 2010): Poetry 
  • Composition: Leaf Fall, Seeing by Touch (Grimalkin Press, 2006; in collaboration with Gerry Stewart and Frances Robertson)
  • Poems widely published in various magazines and anthologies, including: Causeway/Cabhsair, Dreich, New Writing Scotland, Gutter Magazine, NorthWords Now, Cutting Teeth, Poetry Scotland, By Grand Central Station We Sat Down and Wept: Poetry Inspired by Elizabeth Smart, Beyond the Swelkie: A Collection of Poems and Essays to Mark the Centenary of George Mackay Brown, Thali Katori: An Anthology of Scottish & South Asian Poetry, Writers' Mosaic (Royal Literary Fund),Navigating Home (GMB Fellowship, Orkney), Hoy Moor & Brae (New Orker 2), The Herald Newspaper, The Glasgow Seeker and GroundSwell Magazine.

Projects and Residencies (some highlights)

  • September 2022: Scottish Chamber Orchestra live performances of new composition inspired by my poem, 'Niseaboist, Isle of Harris'. A 15-minutes suite of music, with five minutes each written by a different woman composer, and inspired by a different woman-penned poem. My poem was selected by composer, Georgina MacDonnel Finlayson. You can read about it here. (Due to copyright issues, I am unable to share the music publicly.) 
  • December 2019-December 2021: Artist in Residence, Enough! Scotland. After meeting Layla Roxanne-Hill at an Ecofeminism Conference at the Glasgow Women's Library in September 2019, I was invited to join the artists' collective Repository of the Undercommons (RoTU)with Enough! Scotland. This began in December 2019 with a weekend to Ullapool, where I met with the other artists involved and began exploring and sharing ideas for research and development of my current writing project. As yet unnamed, the work in progress uses transformation myths to explore issues of language, loss, memory and power. I have incorporated this into my current research practice at The Glasgow School of Art, including in a paper presented at the (on-line) international symposium, Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories and Transformation. 
  • August 2017-August 2018: 'New Passages' (Edinburgh International Book Festival; An Lanntair, Isle of Lewis; Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival). My three-day residency on the Isle of Lewis in August was the first stage of a year-long project exploring connections between Scotland and India via the Colin Mackenzie collection of art. A sample of the objects is held temporarily in Lews Castle Museum (until November 2017), and I was asked, along with writer Abir Mukherjee, to offer my responses to the collection. I read my draft poem, 'Parsvanatha' at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 21st August 2017 to a packed audience at the Spiegeltent. You can read my blog on the EIBF's Booked! site here: https://booked.edbookfest.co.uk/blog/new-passages-np/. My trip to India in January 2018 was an exciting adventure. You can read all about it via these links:- https://ontheroad.edbookfest.co.uk/blog/new-passages-nalini-paul-pt-2/; https://ontheroad.edbookfest.co.uk/blog/echoes-of-home-nalini-paul/
  • June 2017: Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, Grez-sur-Loing, France. I spent the month of June working on my first full poetry collection at l'Hôtel Chevillon, where Robert Louis Stevenson took inspiration for some of his writing, and where he met his future wife, Frances (Fanny) Matilda Van de Grift Osbourne. The RLS Fellowships is administered by the Scottish Book Trust, and each year funds four Scottish writers to spend a month working on their writing, free of distractions and obligations. I am greatly honoured to be an RLS Fellow, and found the experience rewarding and productive. See the Scottish Book Trust's press release for more information: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing/scottish-book-trust-training-awards/the-robert-louis-stevenson-fellowship/2017-fellows
  • January-September 2016: Beyond the Mud Walls, a performance for stage, for Stellar Quines Theatre's 'Rehearsal Room' showcase at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. The project has been developed with support from a Tom McGrath Award, Creative Scotland funding and a Dance Base residency (Edinburgh). Based on Freda Bedi's book, Behind the Mud Walls, the piece weaves together poetry, Indian classical dance (Bharatnatyam) from Dance Ihayami, and acting/performance. Freda, an English woman from Derby, served as a political prisoner for India's independence in Lahore Female Prison and was the first Western woman to take ordination in Tibetan Buddhism. As India celebrates the 70th anniversary of its independence in 2017, and with nations and nationhood being pertinent issues, Freda's story has strong relevance today. You can watch a short film trailer of the project here: https://youtu.be/duLyBP7yvfc
  • December 2013 The Written Image Illustrated book of my poem, “Hrafn Floki” (limited edition of 10) published as part of collaborative project between Scottish Poetry Library and Edinburgh Printmakers, for EP’s annual Christmas exhibition. Copies of the poem/book have been purchased by the National Gallery of Modern Art for their Special Books collection; and by the Edinburgh College of Art Library. (Please see Catherine's website for images: www.cahiley.com).
  • October 2009-2010 George Mackay Brown Writing Fellow, Orkney. Created and delivered a number of projects, including the stage production, In Search of Home (The Johnsmas Foy, St Magnus International Festival, June 2010), working with Brian Cromarty from The Chair, Orkney Traditional Dancers and Aimée Leonard; and art exhibition Return To Light (Stromness Library, 2010). Other collaborations include workshops with the RSPB, World Heritage (Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones of Stenness, Unstan Tomb), Underwater Archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones, and storyteller Tom Muir. Two anthologies edited: Navigating Home with illustrations by Christina Sargent, and Setting Sail, writing by pupils from Stromness Primary ( both GMB Fellowship 2010). http://gmbfellowship.org.uk/fellowship/nalini-paul/
  • PhD, University of Glasgow, 2008  Identities Displaced and Misplaced: Aspects of Postcolonial Subjectivity in the Novels of Jean Rhys. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/474/
  • Leaf Fall, Seeing by Touch (Grimalkin Press, 2006): Poetry/Art Book. Culmination of one-year project in collaboration with artist and poet, as part of artists’ collective, Composition. Project, including exhibition and workshops at the Tramway, Glasgow, funded by an Awards for All grant.
  • July 2005-6 Writer in Residence, The Ruby Orange Gallery, Biggar. Writing poems for exhibition, in response to current works in gallery. One-day project with primary school children at Abington Primary, February Light culminated in an exhibition of the children's art and poetry in the gallery; and an opening event for parents and family, at which the works for sold and half the proceeds given to the school.
  • October 1996-June 2000: MA Joint Honours Philosophy and English Literature, The University of Edinburgh. Although I graduated more than 20 years ago, this undergraduate degree helped to lay the foundations of my current artistic practice, particularly in relation to my studies in Philosophy (which formed 60% of the joint honours degree). Thinking in the abstract facilitates the application of complex theories to address (if not completely unravel) some of life's greatest questions. Throughout this journey, however, I have always considered the issue of who is posing these questions, from what perspective, and for whom. These are issues I explore in my current research practice around postcolonial theory (which I teach at The Glasgow School of Art) and my artistic practice around memory and place, subjectivity and phenomenology. 


All artwork © Catherine Hiley 2015