Ellen Wiles is an award-winning author, multidisciplinary artist, producer, and academic. She has published two novels: The Invisible Crowd and The Unexpected, and two non-fiction books: Live Literature and Saffron Shadows. She also writes and produces podcasts and literary audio work through commissions from organisations such as The National Trust, and has been shortlisted for a Creative Climate Award. As Artist-in-Residence at the Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste, she leads the Storying Water project. She works part-time as Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Exeter and is a judge for the Society of Authors' Somerset Maugham Prize. She previously worked as a barrister and as a musician.
The Invisible Crowd
Ellen's debut novel is about serendipitous connections and what it's like to navigate the asylum system of a country you've risked everything to get to. It was inspired by her previous work as a barrister and volunteer work with refugees.
It follows the story of Yonas, an Eritrean journalist who has arrived in the UK, is narrated by the voices of a wide range of people he meets on his quest for leave to remain, including his barrister, Jude. A Guardian readers' book of the year, it is a popular book club pick, and was a Victor Turner Prize winner.‘I read this last summer, and I still think about it. It tells the tale of a refugee trying to survive in England – and the impact others have on their journey. A book that makes you see the world differently.’
Jacinda Adern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand
'A fierce, big-hearted novel that celebrates the power of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. It takes a special gift to explore an issue so urgent and so complex in such an emotionally satisfying way. Ellen Wiles has this gift.'Joe Treasure, author of The Book of Air
The Unexpected
This novel follows two best friends in their mid-thirties who find themselves platonically co-parenting a baby.
A funny and moving book about friendship, kinship and motherhood, it explores a web of ideas about different species of love and approaches to family across human and animal cultures. It devles into fertility treatments, co-parent matching services, and post-natal mental health, and family law, revealing the slow evolution of legal systems to support alternative family structures.
New research shows that platonic and non-traditional co-parenting arrangements are growing in popularity, and are resulting in happy children; and yet the idea of two female friends getting together to start a family is still almost unheard-of. This and other themes that emerge from the story have made it a popular book club pick.'Wonderful… all sorts of common assumptions about motherhood and family are turned on their head. It’s brilliant on friendship, identity, longing and resilience’
THE DAILY MAIL
‘A heartwarming depiction of female friendship as a bond stronger than any other'THE TIMES
‘A thought-provoking and unputdownable story about the interconnectedness of female friendship, love, romance and family’MY WEEKLY
‘A novel that comes with a whole different way of thinking – it takes in a rich wide queer world of angelfish and allomothers, and it’s a story of real love between friends’Daisy Hildyard, author of EMERGENCY, RSL Encore Award
‘I loved it! It is intellectually stimulating, full of thought-provoking ideas about family structure and different kinds of love, while the relationships are very affecting. I was really moved. It feels in some ways like a wild, or at least uncommon, story, but is grounded in a realism full of specific detail.’Kate Murray-Browne, author of ONE GIRL BEGAN
‘Loved this clever and funny novel by Ellen Wiles on the complexities of friendship, motherhood and social change.’Anna Mazzola, author of THE BOOK OF SECRETS
‘Wiles writes with humour, tenderness and wisdom; The Unexpected is a welcome portrait of the beauty, the battle and the exhilarating reinvention of contemporary motherhood.’Marianne Levy, author of DON’T FORGET TO SCREAM
'Ellen Wiles shows us how legal forces can shape our most intimate lives. This novel reminds us that chosen families are as complicated, messy and thick with love as biological ones.'Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of THE SLEEP WATCHER
‘The Unexpected is moving and witty, smart and indelible on female friendship and chosen families, and the knotty complexities of parenting beyond the tired old structures of straight fams. I loved and admired it so much!’Rosie Dastgir, author of A SMALL FORTUNE
‘I didn't want this novel to end... radiant writing’Donna Freitas, author of THE NINE LIVES OF ROSE NAPOLITANO
‘An intelligent, thought-provoking, tender, and very real exploration of friendship, pregnancy, and the changing face of modern parenting.'Susannah Wise, author of OKAY THEN THAT’S GREAT
‘Ellen Wiles's The Unexpected is a story of motherhood, female friendship, alternative families and different kinds of love. Original, thoughtful, stimulating and highly readable.’Vesna Goldsworthy, author of THE IRON CURTAIN
Live Literature
Why have live literature events, like literary festivals and salons, become so popular in the digitalized 21st century? What is their cultural value for audiences and performers? Through experiential literary ethnographies of events such as the Hay Festival, composed by a creative writer, artist and anthropologist, to evoke the experience of being there through multiple points of view, this book seeks to answer those questions.
Reviewed as a 'groundbreaking' book on this theme, and packed with practical insights on audience and performer dynamics and tools for evaluation, this book has led to international lectures and speaking events including at the Gothenburg Litteraturhus and the Manchester Museum.
‘A hugely insightful and entertaining survey of the live literature scene: what it is, who it's for, and why it matters. Full of brilliant analysis and fascinating vignettes, it is sure to be standard work on the subject for years to come.’
Michael Hughes, author of Country
Saffron Shadows
This book explores the fascinating storytelling and lives of three generations of Burmese writers living under the world's most repressive censorship regime over five decades. It contains new translations of short stories, poetry, and memoir, and each translation is paired with its author's life story, with characters including U Win Tin who spent 27 years in jail for his words.
'A fascinating exploration of censorship as experienced by nine writers of Myanmar over three generations. Ellen Wiles is to be commended for her deft account of the political and historical backdrop, but most of all for the grace with which she makes room for these authors to reflect on the marks left by censorship in their own words and works.'
Maureeen Freely, President of English PEN and author of The Stork Club
AUDIO & INSTALLATIONS
Ellen writes, narrates and produces audio, including podcasts, literary audio works and installations. Much of her recent audio work has been environmentally-focused, combining evocative narratives with rich soundscapes exploring landscapes, ecologies, the climate and biodiversity crises, and more-than-human entanglements. Her work has been commissioned by organisations including The National Trust, and shown as installations in exhibitions including at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery and The British Library. As Artist-in-Residence at the Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (‘CREWW’), an environmental science centre, she is leading ‘Storying Water’: an audio-centred project engaging diverse audiences and experts afresh with water system resilience.
STORYING WATER: THE PODCAST
The Storying Water podcast is an audio journey down the River Exe from source to sea over ten episodes, exploring how the water system works, risks to its resilience, and meeting a kaleidoscope of water experts from fishermen and farmers to scientists and regulators. It was created as part of the Storying Water artist residency.
Written, recorded, narrated and produced by Ellen Wiles. Sound editing by Alannah Chance. Sound mix and design by Nicholas Allan.
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
SPRINGS AND SEEPAGES: IMMERSIVE installation
Springs and Seepages is an immersive installation work created by Ellen Wiles and Arun Sood as a new commission for their joint Shifting Waterscapes exhibition at Thelma Hulbert Gallery in 2026. The installation was developed in collaboration with printmaker Emma Molony and the Otterhead Lakes nature reserve: a secluded springline mire with a rare acoustic ecology and a complex history. The sound work featured field recordings, spoken word and improvised music recorded in situ. The installation featured moving image projections, found sculptural materials including wood gnawed by beavers and a fragment of pipe from the nearby reservoir, and a forest of canvases that had been immersed in the mulch of the mire and painted and printed with natural inks.
Shifting Waterscapes explored a series of watery places through works involving sound, narrative, moving image, visual art, and other mixed media, delving into issues of water resilience and nature restoration. It featured on ITV news. The audiovisual film of Springs and Seepages was shortlisted for a Mannington Hall Nature Award and shown at Holt Gallery.
Riverlandia
Riverlandia is an immersive fictional sound story of a river valley in the process of change as a new wetland is created, restoring it to its original expanse in the floodplain. It is told by ten characters who inhabit the valley, only two of whom are human. They include the river itself, a bullhead fish, a dragonfly, an alder tree, sheep, and a skylark. It was originally commissioned by The National Trust as a response to its nature restoration work in Porlock Vale. It was shortlisted for a Creative Climate Award. The cast of voice actors includes Gemma Whelan, Mike Wozniak, Spencer Jones, and Bethany Antonia. Sound design by Nicholas Allan. Ellen has subsequently produced a film for installations of Riverlandia, which has been shown at The British Library and as part of the Shifting Waterscapes exhibition. An limited artist book edition has also been produced as part of the Strange Meadow project. Copies can be found housed within handmade wooden book boxes as part of an installation project at selected locations on the National Trust's Holnicote Estate. Limited copies are available for sale on request.
Buzzard View Buzzard View is literary soundwalk: a long-form audio essay that describes walking along a stunning loop route around a National Trust estate where Exmoor meets the sea. The path passes through woodland, moorland and coast, over a beacon, and past buildings ancient and new telling a tale of how this place has been transformed over time by humans and non-humans. It can be experienced as a virtual immersive walk experience, or in situ while on the walk, linked with a series of physical listening points. This work was commissioned by The National Trust as a creative response to the wide-ranging programme of nature restoration work at the Holnicote Estate. It explores some of that work, and how it contrasts with historical ownership and uses of the land. The commission was funded as part of a Green Recovery Challenge Fund award. The work is written and narrated in situ by Ellen Wiles. Sound recording in situ by Ellie Williams. Sound editing by Nicholas Allan.
Paper Heron Paper Heron is a fictional sound story set on the banks of the River Exe in 1851. It follows Effie, a girl working in a rag room at a paper mill, and secretly dreaming of making art, when she unexpectedly gets the chance to visit the Great Exhibition in London, where she will encounter new machines, crafts and creative ideas from across the British Empire and beyond. As recounted to Horace, the local grey heron. This work was commissioned by Double Elephant as part of Paper & Print: a research project funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund. It was exhibited as an audio installation as part of the Paper & Print exhibitions. Written, narrated and produced by Ellen Wiles.
The New Riverscapers
This fictional sound story is narrated by a beaver who has been reintroduced to a Devon river after centuries of extinction. reintroduced and living freely on a Devon river. It was researched and developed through a collaboration with Professor Richard Brazier, a leading beaverologist and environmental scientist.
This work was commissioned by Literature Works as part of a science-themed residency. It is written, narrated and produced by Ellen Wiles.
Pebbled Heights, Mossy Depths Pebbled Heights, Mossy Depths immersive literary soundwalk: a long-form audio essay that describes walking along the East Devon Way, and explores nature restoration work taking place in the landscape, and layers of history that have shaped and defined this place. The route begins at Woodbury Castle, an iron age fort, and moves through moorland and woodland to Fire Beacon hill, a nature reserve above Sidmouth. This work was commissioned by the East Devon National Landscape and Double Elephant as part of the Routes project funded by Arts Council England. It was developed through collaboration with experts in environmental science and environmental nature and conservation management. Written, narrated and produced by Ellen Wiles. Sound recording in situ by Ellie Williams. Sound editing and design by Nicholas Allan.
Podcasts
Storying Water: the podcast
This podcast is an audio journey down the River Exe from source to sea over ten episodes exploring how the water system works and how we can make it more resilient.
Sound Stories podcast
Subscribe and listen to the podcast editions of these literary sound stories and soundwalks
This mama is lit! podcast
In this podcast Ellen discusses motherhood in her novel, The Unexpected.
Monocle Meet the Writers podcast
Listen to the episode of Monocle Magazine’s Meet the Writers podcast in which I was Georgina Godwin’s guest
Behind the spine: podcast
In this podcast Ellen discusses family and kinship in her novel, The Unexpected.
The Hexagon Podcast
In this podast, Ellen invited guests to offer their top arts and culture tips under the Covid lockdown and beyond.
Live Literature Launch
Watch the launch event for Ellen's Live Literature book hosted by comedian Mike Wozniak
ARTICLES & STORIES
Ellen writes articles, stories and reviews. You can find some of them here.
‘Small found dogs’
A review of 13 March 1911 by Adam Smyth, TLS, August 2019
‘A Tale of Two LexiconS’
A review of two debut novels both long listed for the Man Booker Prize: Everything Under by Daisy Johnson and In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne, TLS, August 2018
‘Three branches of Literary ANthropology’
Ethnography, March 2018
‘The circus act of writing and mothering’
weheartwriting.com, November 2018
‘Literature, live’
International Literature Showcase, November 2017
‘Tea dial’
A literary essay-diary about my tea drinking habit for Versopolis
‘Whirl and Muddle’
A review of literary essays on war and writing by Samuel Hynes, TLS, May 2018
‘Essays': A review of Reading Life by Chris Arthur
Times Literary Supplement, February 2018
‘Giving birth to a book vs giving birth to a child’
Female First, November 2017
'Ark: immersive short story shows in library spaces'
The Library as Incubator Project, April 2016
Events
RIPPLE EFFECTS: MICROFESTIVAL
Ellen produced and hosted Ripple Effects: a microfestival of water resilience, in partnership with Northcott Theatre, in February 2026. It brought together leading artists and scientists focused on water and the environment and attracted diverse audiences.
Live Literature experiences
Ellen has extensive experience and academic expertise in performance, particularly creating memorable immersive experiences, and in bringing literary writing to life beyond the page. Her critically-acclaimed book, Live Literature, explores the value of live arts events. She also has extensive experience of curating and directing literary and cross-arts performance events for diverse audiences.
Funded by Arts Council England, Ellen was the founder of Ark: an innovative live literature project to stage immersive short story performances in library spaces. These shows were hugely successful and attracted large and diverse audiences and featured leading perfomers and writers in venues including The British Library.
Speaking events
Ellen is regularly invited to give talks and lectures at events, on panels, on podcasts and at book clubs. As a former barrister, she is an experienced speaker and communicator. Please get in touch via the contact page if you are interested in a speaking invitation.
Exhibitions
Ellen's literary audio and installation work has been shown in multiple exhibitions and featured on TV news.
Shifting Waterscapes was a joint exhibition with Arun Sood at Thelma Hulbert Gallery with Arun Sood exploring watery ecologies. It featured a newly commissioned immersive installation work, Springs and Seepages, created in collaboration with printmaker Emma Molony and Otterhead Lakes nature reserve.
Contact
Book enquiries
Laura Macdougall at United Agents LMacdougall [at] unitedagents.co.uk
ellenwiles [at] gmail.com
Social media
@ellenwiles on Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn
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