Ameek Gilhotra

I'm pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing, funded for 2025-29 by the University of Strathclyde's International Diamond Jubilee Research Scholarship. My supervisors are Dr Sarah Bernstein and Dr Maria Sledmere. 

My research spans creative and critical practice, and explores genre hybrids, classical reception, migrant and quest narratives, and joy and humour.

My poem 'Ameek' was shortlisted as top-10 for the 2026 University of Cambridge's Girton College's Jane Martin Poetry Prize, judged by Sarah Howe and John Clegg.

My Master of Arts (Distinction) in Poetry: Creative and Critical Writing was achieved at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University Belfast. My Bachelor of Arts (Distinction) in Joint Honours English and Creative Writing was achieved at the University of Birmingham.

I'm presently a Research Assistant for the University of Strathclyde's Collaborative Cultures initiative titled 'StrathWrites'. My prior professional experience includes working as a Lecturer in English (Language) at the University of Roehampton, Script Reader at London's Finborough Theatre, Agents' Assistant (TV, Film, Theatre) at the Agency London Ltd, Societies Coordinator at the Brighton Students' Union (the University of Brighton), Literary Assistant at Curtis Brown, Editorial and Marketing Assistant at Artery Editions, and Outreach Mentor (for the Pathway to University Scheme) at the University of Birmingham.

Awards

Shortlisted as Top 10 for the University of Cambridge's Girton College's 2026 Jane Martin Poetry Prize, judged by Sarah Howe and John Clegg, for a poem titled 'Ameek'

The University of Strathclyde's 2025 Diamond Jubilee Research (International) Scholarship

6th position, 50-Word Short Story Competition (University of Birmingham) 2021: ‘Snowflake, Perch’, now anthologised by Creative Media

Highly Commended in the 2020 Language for Literature Competition (University of Birmingham) for an original poem ‘tə juː, maɪ θɔːts,’—produced in and investigating dialect through the International Phonetic Alphabet

The University of Birmingham’s 2019 Outstanding Achievement Scholarship

Publications

Select Poems:

Collaborative Poetry/Art, ‘paint me, some flowers beside’, Writers’ Bloc, ‘Growth’ (June, 2021), pp.15-17

‘Dear M’, ‘found in pieces’, ‘white is the hunter’s quarry a lost loved human face (after Fiona Macleod)’, What We Did During the Apocalypse (Hem Press, 2024), pp.571-4 

‘Deja Vu’, Writers’ Bloc Journal, 30 ‘Memory’ (February, 2021), p.35

‘i thought you a bud’, Overground Underground Magazine, 2 (2021), p.48  

‘La Douleur Exquise’, Ad Alta: The Birmingham Journal of Literature, 12 (2021), p.56 

‘Library Wall’, Writers’ Bloc Journal, 29 ‘Spaces’ (November, 2020), p.35

‘Never Have I Ever’, Streetcake Magazine, 74.1 (2021), p.14 

‘Walk in the Woods’, Writers’ Bloc Journal, 31 ‘Tomorrow’ (May, 2021), p.17

Select Articles:

‘Cynthia Nixon in ‘Be A Lady, They Said’’, Redbrick (March, 2020)  

‘I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World: Commercialising ‘Self-Care’’, Redbrick (February, 2020) 

‘Noughts + Crosses: YA Books go to TV’, Redbrick (March, 2020)  

‘On Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun’, ‘On Greta Gerwig’s Barbie’, ‘On Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness’, in The Saturday Matinee Magazine (2022-23), The Seamus Heaney Centre

‘Slut-Shaming: How Language Objectifies Women’, Redbrick (May, 2020)  

‘Spotlight On: Adverts and Insecurity’, Redbrick (May, 2020)  

Conferences: