Scotia Gilroy is a Polish–English translator specialising in literary fiction, contemporary poetry, children’s books, academic articles, and texts for art galleries and museums. She is an alumna of the National Centre for Writing’s Emerging Translator Mentorship in Norwich, England, and the British Centre for Literary Translation’s summer school.
Her translation of Doctor Bianco and Other Stories by Maciek Bielawski was shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize in 2022, and her translation of No. 5 Bubblegum Street by Mikołaj Pasiński (illustrated by Gosia Herba) was shortlisted for a Society of Authors Award in 2025. Her first novel translation, Hexes of the Deadwood Forest by Agnieszka Szpila, was published in 2026 by Penguin Random House (USA) and Bonnier Books (UK).
Her translations of Polish poetry include poems by Joanna Łępicka (published by Versopolis), Emilia Konwerska (presented at the Miłosz Festival in Kraków in 2026), Katarzyna Szweda (presented at Café Europa in Nairobi), and Stanisław Kalina Jaglarz (published in Wet Grain Magazine and HUS Magazine and presented at the Miłosz Festival in Kraków in 2025 and the Berlin Poetry Festival in 2026).
Her translation of the short story “Mamas” by Grażyna Plebanek was included in the anthology Conradology, published by Comma Press.
She has translated two non-fiction books: the Holocaust memoir The Touch of an Angel by Henryk Schönker (published by Indiana University Press) and Polish Jews in Israel by Elżbieta Kossewska (published by Brill). Her other non-fiction translations include an excerpt of The Pepper Forgers by Monika Sznajderman (included in the anthology Visible, published by Two Lines Press), an excerpt of Wherever You Throw Me by Dionisios Sturis (published in Asymptote), an excerpt of Mordor’s Coming to Eat Us: A Secret History of the Slavs by Ziemowit Szczerek (published in Asymptote), and many articles on culture, literature, music, film, and visual art published on the Culture.pl website and in the English version of Przekrój Magazine.
She frequently translates texts for cultural institutions and art galleries, including the Polish Book Institute, the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, the Museum of Art in Łódź, BWA Wrocław, and the National Museum in Kraków.
Her own poems and short stories have been published in literary journals including The Mobile Library, The Queens Review (formerly known as Armstrong Literary Journal), and The High Window.
She’s a member of the British Society of Authors, the American Authors Guild, and the Polish Literary Translators Association.
Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Scotia Gilroy is now based in Kraków, Poland. She studied English literature at Simon Fraser University (graduating with First Class Honours), and Polish language and literature at the Jagiellonian University’s Centre for Polish Language and Culture.
