Janice Galloway

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born 1955 in

Saltcoats Saltcoats (; Scots: ''Saulcuts'') is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages ...

, Scotland) is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories, prose-poetry, non-fiction and libretti. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

Biography

She is the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride. Her parents separated when she was four and her father died when she was six. Her sister Cora, sixteen years older, died in 2000 from smoking-related illness. Janice Galloway's secondary education was at Ardrossan Academy, which is described in the memoir ''All Made Up''. She studied Music and English at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, then worked as a school teacher for ten years, before turning to writing. She was the first Scottish Arts Council writer in residence to four prisons (HMPs Cornton Vale, Dungavel, Barlinnie and Polmont YOI) and was the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' Research Fellow to the

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in 1999. Her awards include: MIND/Allan Lane Award (for '' The Trick is to Keep Breathing''), the McVitie's Prize (for ''Foreign Parts''), the E.M. Forster Award (presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters), the Creative Scotland Award, Saltire Book of the Year (for ''Clara'') and the SMIT non-fiction Book of the Year for ''This is not about Me'' and Scottish Best Book of the Year 2012 for ''All Made Up''. Janice Galloway lives in the Kingdom of Fife. She has one son, James. She has written and presented three radio series for BBC Scotland (''Life as a Man'', ''Imagined Lives'' and ''Chopin's Scottish Swansong'') and works extensively with musicians and visual artists including Sally Beamish, Anne Bevan, Michael Wolchover, Norman McBeath, Alasdair Nicolson and James McNaught. Her books '' Clara'' and ''This is Not About Me'' were recorded for the RNIB Talking Books service by the author in 2004 and 2009 respectively. ''This is Not about Me'' and ''All Made Up'' are available to buy. She collaborated with Anne Bevan to create ''Rosengarten'', an exhibition at the

Hunterian Museum The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

in Glasgow in 2004. Inspired by research into obstetric instruments and the mechanics of childbirth, it featured nine light tables with sculptural pieces in bronze, plaster and fabric by Bevan with poems and text by Galloway. In December 2008 she was a guest on ''

Private Passions ''Private Passions'' is a weekly music discussion programme that has been running since 15 April 1995 on BBC Radio 3, presented by composer Michael Berkeley. The production was formerly made by Classic Arts Productions, a British radio and audi ...

'', the biographical music discussion programme on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

,BBC Radio 3
/ref> and regularly discusses music, writing and ''The Scottish Question'' at public appearances. Galloway wrote the glosses on Bronte's '' Shirley'' and Eliot's '' Felix Holt'' and ''

Middlemarch ''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by English author George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midlands town, in 1829 ...

'' in '' The Book of Prefaces'', edited by Alasdair Gray.

Works

Novels

*'' The Trick is to Keep Breathing'' (1989) *''Foreign Parts'' (1994) *''Clara'' (2002) (based on the life of

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

)

Collections of short stories

*''Blood'' (1991) *''Where You Find It'' (1996) *"Collected Stories" (2009) *''

Jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

'' (2015, Granta ) She has been widely anthologised in collections and translation since 1990.

Poetry

*''Boy Book See'' (2002)

Other texts

*''Chute'' (1998, French play/monologue commissioned by the Traverse Theatre) *''Pipelines'' (2000, prose and poetry text to accompany Anne Bevan's exhibition "undercovered") *''Monster'' (2002, opera libretto for Sally Beamish and Scottish Opera) *''Rosengarten'' (2004, a book of prose and poetry, matched with an exhibition of obstetrical implements by Anne Bevan) *''This is Not About Me'' (2008, "anti-memoir/ true novel" listed by publisher as ''memoir'') *''All Made Up'' (2012, "anti-memoir/ true novel" listed by publisher as ''memoir'')

References

External links

* * includes a "Critical Perspective" section {{DEFAULTSORT:Galloway, Janice 1955 births Living people 20th-century Scottish short story writers Scottish women short story writers 20th-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish women writers People educated at Ardrossan Academy People from Saltcoats Scottish women novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature