Born in Southampton, Giles emigrated to Australia in infancy, and lived there for twenty-five years. His later experiences - in County Durham, Buckinghamshire, the Isles of Scilly and Oxfordshire - steeped his writing in British landscapes, history, archaeology, flora and fauna. In addition to poetry and fiction, he has written essays on the folklore of natural history and mediaeval visual culture. He is a keen walker, photographer and amateur naturalist. Much of his work is infused with a love of nature, a fascination for history, and a quiet sense of the spirit of place. He now lives in Albany, Western Australia, and enjoys collaborations with musicians (Simone Keane, Kathryn Wheeler, Judith Reid) and artists (Buffarches, John Lincoln and Martin Williamson). An avid fascination for the interplay between text and image is a trademark of his work. His most recent projects have been the libretto and novel for MIMMA: a Musical of War and Friendship in collaboration with composer Ron Siemiginowski, a pair of illustrated books of poems inspired by the Ridgeway Path, and a book of poems and paintings inspired by the relationships between birds and mediaeval people. He is currently working on a book of poems and essays in dialogue with the poetry of Emily Dickinson.