Jeda Pearl ~ Writer, Poet, Artist, Story Navigator
Pronunciation
My first name is pronounced ‘jeh-dah’ and was created from the first two letters of my parents’ names: Je– and Da–.
It’s not pronounced jay-dah, jada, or jedi 😉
My second name is pronounced ‘perl’ or ‘perrrl’ if you roll your r’s (also made by oysters ⚪🦪🐚)
Mini bio / event intro – 36 words
Jeda Pearl is a Scottish Jamaican writer and poet. Her stories and poems are published by Collective, Rhubaba, New Writing Scotland, Shoreline of Infinity and Peepal Tree Press among others. Find her online @JedaPearl or jedapearl.com.
Short bio – 120 words
Jeda Pearl (she/her) is a Scottish Jamaican writer and artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her work often traverses/reflects the ‘in between’ and explores the intersections of be/longing, (intergenerational) memory, illness and disability, secrecy and survival. Her work examines the histories, cultures, folklores and languages of her ancestral islands, at times exploring grief and nature writing, often creating magical realist or science-fictional worlds. In 2022, she was shortlisted for the Sky Arts RSL Award and longlisted for the Women Poets’ Prize. Jeda is published/commissioned by Collective, Rhubaba, New Writing Scotland, Shoreline of Infinity, Aesthetica, and most recently in Glimpse – Peepal Tree Press’ first anthology of speculative fiction by Black British writers. Find her online @JedaPearl or jedapearl.com.
Full bio – 260 words
Jeda Pearl (she/her) is a Scottish Jamaican writer and artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her work often traverses/reflects the ‘in between’ and explores the intersections of be/longing, (intergenerational) memory, illness and disability, secrecy and survival. Her work examines the histories, cultures, folklores and languages of her ancestral islands, at times exploring grief and nature writing, often creating magical realist or science-fictional worlds.
Commissioned works include Caledonian Library, 3033 (Scottish Storytelling Centre), Acts of Observation (audio installation and captioned film weaving the disabled BPOC body with archeoastronomy and the sublime, Collective), An Ocean of Patience (dance-film-poem, British Council Momentum), inheritance reverb (poetic response to Maud Sulter’s archive, Rhubaba).
In 2022, Jeda was shortlisted for the Sky Arts RSL Award and longlisted for the Women Poets’ Prize 2022. In 2019, she was awarded Cove Park’s Scottish Emerging Writer Residency and shortlisted for the Moniack Mhor Bridge Awards. She’s performed on The Big Scottish Book Club (BBC Scotland), at StAnza, Push the Boat Out, Event Horizon, Inky Fingers, and Hidden Door and her poems and short stories are published by Black Lives Matter Mural Trail, New Writing Scotland, Open Book, Not Going Back to Normal – a Disabled Artists Manifesto, TSS Publishing, Tapsalteerie, Shoreline of Infinity, Aesthetica, and Peepal Tree Press (forthcoming).
She is also Co-Director of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, an advocacy and professional development organisation for Black and POC writers in Scotland. She has experience as an event chair, panellist and arts programmer, and has sat on selection panels for arts organisations.
Find Jeda online @jedapearl on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.