About

Hi! I’m Dr. Christina Neuwirth.

I recently published The Quine Report: Quantifying inequality in Scottish literature which you can read for free here or here on Substack.

Here is a bio you are welcome to use to describe me: Originally from Austria, Christina is a researcher, writer and bookseller based in Edinburgh. They recently completed a PhD examining gender inequality in the Scottish publishing industry and spent two months as a research fellow at the University of Münster in Germany. They are also the festival director of First Date, Edinburgh’s Romance Fiction Festival, and prize administrator for the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing. Their debut novella Amphibian was published by Speculative Books in 2018 and was shortlisted for multiple awards, including the Saltire Society First Book Award. You can find more information and say Hi on http://www.christinaneuwirth.com and read their report on gender inequality in the Scottish literary sector on www.quinereport.com or quinereport.substack.com

Here is….. a longer bio! This is more for your information and in case you would like to find out more.

My pronouns are they/she.

I was born in Austria in 1990 and moved to Edinburgh in 2013 (my surname is pronounced noy-veer-t, like in the example here). I have previously also lived, for various amounts of time, in New Zealand, Denmark and Australia.

I write fiction and non-fiction, and I hold an MSc in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh. My novella “Amphibian” was shortlisted for the Novella Award in 2016, selected as DIVA Magazine’s Book of the Month for September 2018 and Scottish Review of Books’ Book of the Month for November 2018. It was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award 2018 (read more here on The Bookseller). I put some more details about Amphibian (reviews, stockists, etc) on the writing page of this website, in case you are interested.

I was selected as one of Queer Words Project Scotland‘s five Emerging Writers 2018 and mentored by Shane Strachan. On the 2018 The List Hot 100 I was #91! I was recently invited to participate in a documentary about craft and creativity inspired by Eileen Myles’s FOR NOW created by Lighthouse Bookshop and Harry R Oliver, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a8-HcERTv8 I was previously a library assistant with the Bi Pan Library project: www.bipanlibrary.com

In 2023 completed a SGSAH/AHRC-funded PhD in Publishing Studies at University of Stirling, University of Glasgow and Scottish Book Trust, researching gender equality in contemporary Scottish writing and publishing. I have published some early findings from my PhD with the group ROAR, which you can find on http://www.roar.scot (the website is broken sorry :(). I have presented my research at conferences in the UK and further afield, including at conferences in Australia, the USA and Italy, and at Scottish literary industry events. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon cited my research findings in a speech in 2019. I am now a Research Fellow at the Book Studies department of the University of Münster, Germany.

I am the festival director for First Date, Edinburgh’s Romance Fiction Festival, and I’m the prize administrator for the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing.

My report on gender inequality in the Scottish literary sector called The Quine Report was published on 10th April 2025 and encompasses the key findings from my PhD research. It is freely available to read and download on the report website and via Substack.

Updated 15/04/2024