Meredith Miller

Meredith Miller was born in the U.S. and settled in the UK in 1997. She teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at University. Most of her spare time is taken up with either mountain walking or restoring old buildings, which latter seem to seek her out.  She has lived in Wales since 2018 and speaks both English and Cymraeg.

In her twenties, Meredith wrote and performed poetry as part of a feminist performance collective in New Orleans. She published her first short story in 2009, and has published two novels with Harper: Little Wrecks (2017) and How We Learned to Lie (2018). Her third novel, Hamoaze, is forthcoming from Honno Press in March of 2024. Meredith continues to write and publish short stories, one of which was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Prize in 2022.

Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you like to meet and why?

A: As a child it was always Anaïs Nin, who was the first prose writer to enthral me. I think Virginia Woolf is a genius, but always suspect I’d dislike her as a person. I have a few questions I’d like to ask Wilkie Collins. If I could move heaven and earth to meet one wordsmith though, it would be a living one, Bob Dylan. I’d just like to thank him for turning me into a writer.

That’s more than one, isn’t it?

Q: What is the first book you remember reading or having read to you as a child?

A: Moke and Poki in the Rain Forest by Mamura Funai was the first book I read on my own. I loved that book and read it over and over again!

Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to, and if so, how many times have you read it?

A: James’s The Portrait of a Lady. I’ve read it at least ten times and also written about it. I will read it many more times, I’m sure. James’ prose is so finely crafted. There are sentences in that novel that have actually brought tears to my eyes, not because of their content but because they are so beautifully formed. There is a reason they called him The Master!

Q: Who is your personal inspiration?

A: My mother. She has lived very bravely in her personal life and also taught me a lot about being an ethical professional. Also, it was she who bought me Moke and Poki in the Rainforest.