Biography
Gabrielle Barnby lives in Orkney and writes short stories, poetry and fiction. She facilitates creative discovery and writing groups with participants from eight to eighty and has a strong interest in writing for wellbeing. Visit gabriellebarnby.com to discover more publications and read her blog about creativity in the community.
Current Projects
The Blide Trust – Headspace creative sessions and showcase
Max Literacy Award – Art, Storytelling and Literacy, Max Reinhardt Charitable Trust.
SHIPS – Scottish Highlands and Islands Poetry Society
Lecturer – BA Creative Writing in the Highlands and Islands
Writing and facilitating experience
I work in a variety of forms including short stories and poetry. My collection of short stories, The House With The Lilac Shutters and other stories was published with Thunderpoint Publishing in 2015 and was followed by my first novel The Oystercatcher Girl (2017). My novels Across the Silent Sea (2023) and Archipelago (2025) are published by Sparsile Books and in 2025 local publisher Orkneyology released my short story collection Orkney and Outwith: The Nightwatcher and Other Stories.
My poetry has been used to accompany film and performed as radio broadcast. I also organise cultural events and edit work for publication in print and on line. I lead a variety of socially engaged creative sessions within the community.
I work with media and arts organisations to promote events involving Stromness Writing Group and have also collaborated with Orkney Storytelling Festival and the Orkney Book Festival. I have read and spoken at a broad range of events including the Orkney Free Fringe Festival, the St Magnus International Festival, the Association for Literature and the Environment Conference and the Orkney International Science Festival.
I have facilitated sessions in schools for Fèisean nan Gàidheal and the Max Literacy Award. I have also completed a number of commissions including a celebration of George Mackay Brown’s centenary in collaboration with Orla Stevens, delivering an outdoor artwork sited in the George Mackay Brown Memorial Garden, Stromness.
In 2021 and 2022 I was awarded funding by Culture Collective to run dementia friendly creative sessions with Age Scotland Orkney. These sessions encouraged narrative skills and wellbeing through creative exercises and led to the publication of Raindrops in the Fire a collection of resources and creative responses, .
As Scrivener for Orkney 2025 Island Games I produced Island Voices an anthology of poetry and prose incorporating creative work from a range of writers from participating island groups as well as art work from local artists collaborating with Soulisquoy printmakers. The anthology was distributed to the thousands of athletes, coaches, delegates and volunteers who participated in the games.