Poet in residence

Here at WCAIR we’re firm believers in the power of science and the arts to influence each other in profoundly positive ways, as well as providing a window for folks outside our labs to look in. We’re delighted to be expanding our artistic collaborations into the world of poetry, working with the fantastic Giovanna MacKenna.

Giovanna was an actor, and a journalist, and is now a poet and creative facilitator. Her poem Silenced by My Mother’s Tongue has recently been included in the Scottish Poetry Library’s Best Scottish Poems list. Those of you who came along to our Bonding: electrons are FREE exhibition may remember meeting her for our delicious Word Soup session.

Giovanna is currently our Poet in Residence at the Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research and is also working with Scotland’s Remembering Together Covid Memorial project.
You can find current work in Sídhe Press, Stanza Cannon, Black Bough and Nine Pens. Giovanna’s first collection is available from The Museum of Loss and Renewal Publishing.

For more, you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook. She’ll be exploring our labs, researching what we do from her own unique viewpoint and, of course, meeting with people in our communities to creatively play with words, science, and more. We’ll be sharing more on here as the project develops.