A timely and innovative poetry collection from the author of the genre-defying Deep Wheel Orcadia, the first poetry winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, bestowed in 2022. I raise my great foot over the city of speech. My chest is bound beneath two straps. The one is named diversity and the other is named inclusion. When I sweep my arms through the thick air, blessings fall to the folk below. And my foot answers their prayer: silencing. So begins Them! by Harry Josephine Giles, a challenging and subversive collection of poems about trans life as it is lived now, through the lenses of work, technology, and ecology. Witty, candid, furious, and always compelling, Them! is equally dynamic in its range of forms, featuring visually innovative textual disruptions, prose poems, lyrics, and erasure. Giles negotiates the fraught and fruitful space between the worlds of "online" and the "outside," and how they fuse and diverge in the imagination. This collection arrives at a time when trans rights are at the forefront of public discourse and will speak to a young and informed readership. It includes the poem "May a Transsexual Hear a Bird?" anthologised in 100 Queer Poems (Penguin, 2021).
Harry Josephine Giles
Harry Josephine Giles is a poet, performer, and writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. They are known for their innovative exploration of language, identity, and politics in their works. Giles's poetry often delves into themes of queerness, Scottish culture, and activism, blending traditional forms with contemporary language.
Their most notable works include "The Games," a collection of poetry that examines the intersections of sports, gender, and power, and "Deep Wheel Orcadia," a multimedia project that combines poetry, performance, and visual art to explore the history and landscape of Orkney.
Giles's contributions to literature include pushing the boundaries of poetic form and language, as well as advocating for greater representation of marginalized voices in the literary world. Their work has had a significant impact on the genre of contemporary poetry and has garnered critical acclaim for its unique style and powerful messages.
One of Giles's most famous works is the poem "Ferry Tales," which captures the experience of traveling by ferry and reflects on themes of migration, displacement, and home. Their ability to blend personal experience with larger social issues has solidified their reputation as a groundbreaking voice in modern poetry.
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