Giles Foden

Giles Foden is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia's School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing. He is also a member of the Creative Writing Research Group. His career includes roles as assistant editor of the Times Literary Supplement (1993) and work on the Guardian's books pages (1996–2006). He is best known for his novel The Last King of Scotland, which won the 1998 Whitbread First Novel Award and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film (2007).

Education: English Literature degree (university unspecified), Harper-Wood Student in Creative Writing at St John’s College, Cambridge (pre-1993).

Research interests span creative writing pedagogy, narrative non-fiction, and interdisciplinary projects on environmental risk communication. He has led research initiatives including 'Making Sense of Risk and Uncertainty' (Royal Society, 2019–2023) and 'Citizen Science for Environmental Disaster Resilience' (NERC, 2017–2018).

Teaching focuses on undergraduate and postgraduate programs, including the MA in Prose Fiction. He has judged the Man Booker Prize (2007) and contributed forewords/introductions to classic literary works like The African Queen and The History of Mr. Polly.

Key publications include novels Ladysmith, Zanzibar, and Turbulence, as well as the non-fiction work Mimi and Toutou Go Forth.