“Iona Lee has long been considered one of the finest spoken-word and live poetry performers around.”
– SNACK Magazine
Iona Lee is a writer from Edinburgh, whose work spans poetry, visual art, live performance, and music. She has appeared on radio and television, reading her work in venues and on festival stages all over the UK and Europe, everywhere from Cornwall to Shetland, dive bars to the Royal Albert Hall. Her critically acclaimed debut collection, Anamnesis, was published by Polygon in 2023.
Her work is concerned with themes of folklore, philosophy, magic, media, truth and tale-telling, art and artifice, memory, and other hauntings.
Jerwood Poetry Award, (shortlisted). The Somerset Maugham Award, 2024. John Byrne Award, 2022. Young Women Scotland 30 Under 30, 2022. The Edwin Morgan Award, (shortlisted). Saltire Award, (shortlisted). Scottish Slam Champion, 2016.
Awards
Irish Pages, Wet Grain, Poetry London, The Scotsman, The Morning Star, Gutter Magazine, 404 ink, Tangerine Press, Speculative Books, The Skinny, Bella Caledonia, Rising Magazine, Palimpsest, AEOS Magazine.
Publications
Hidden Door Festival performer in residence, 2025 & 2026. StAnza festival poet in residence, 2024. Typewronger writer in residence, 2024. Heysahorn Faroe islands, 2023. Tae Write Wi’ A Fifer residency, 2022.
Residencies
Media Appearances
Notable Performances
The Big Scottish Book Club. Burns and Beyond. The Digital Human. The Verb. The Afternoon Show. Tricky Podcast. Lit with Charles. EHFM.
Glastonbury Festival, WOMAD Festival, Music For Youth Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Ars Poetica Bratislava, First Fortnight Dublin, Port Elliot Festival Cornwall, Transpoesie Brussels, Make-Up Space Berlin, G! Festival Faroe Islands, Push The Boat Out Festival, Rebel Soap Box Brighton, Edinburgh International Book Festival, All We Have Are Days Limerick, Liverpool Sound City, StAnza St Andrews, International Slam Championships Paris, Wigtown Book Festival, Neu Reekie, Sonnet Youth, Loud Poets, Kelburn Garden Party, Eden Festival, Doune The Rabbit Hole, Hidden Door Festival, Eden Court Theatre Inverness, Mareel Theatre Shetland, Milk Poetry Bristol, Born Lippy Newcastle, La Violette Societta Liverpool, Speakin’ Weird Aberdeen, Paisley Book Festival.