Tag Archives: Penning Perfumes

A brief update

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I apologize for not updating this in a while. A new job is about to begin, I am flat-hunting all over the place, and plotting to bring Penning Perfumes on tour. Speaking of which, we made an appearance in the Financial Times!

I am currently working on the manuscript of my first full collection called The Shipwrecked House (to be published by Penned in the Margins in 2013) and so have been writing many new poems as a result. One of these, based on tweets tagged with #GBBO features in Amy Key and Charlotte Runcie’s fantastic Great British Bard Off website. It’s a pop-up anthology to celebrate all cake-related poetic things during the Great British Bake Off.

Hope you enjoy mine, it’s called ‘Bread Cthulhu‘

On the subject of my publisher, I have just read Luke Kennard postcyberpunk novella Holophin, and it really is quite extraordinary. Cannot recommend it enough, especially if you like your writing experimental and your characters unstable.

Penning Perfumes

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I somehow neglected to plug repeatedly the project I co-organized with Odette Toilette, Penning Perfumes, so this is a quick attempt to make up for it. To make things short: we had an amazing event on 12th June (reviewed by The Guardian no less) and have been selling anthologies accompanied by scented pens here.

The event was sold out. However! We are doing a take #2 version of it this very Sunday at the Betsey Trotwood, and best of all, it’s free! It’s part of a day of fun poetry events and I’m apparently reading with some other Salt Modern Voices pamphleteers. So I recommend you attend and experience a unique scent/worded event…

Penning Perfumes

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Penning Perfumes is my latest poetic adventure, created in collaboration with the wonderful Odette Toilette, who runs Scratch and Sniff Events in London. Sometime around the end of 2011 I became excited by the idea of pairing poets with perfumers and creating an event that combined the two. It luckily turned out that Odette was on exactly the same wavelength and thus, the project was born.

We have sent twelve poets an anonymous flask of perfume, from which they must create a poem. In turn we are also sending six poets to perfumers all over the country for a collaborative exchange. These perfumers will be creating a scent based on a poem donated by the poet at the meeting. The poets involved include Lavinia Greenlaw, Tim Wells, David Morley, Valerie Laws and many others, each with their own unique take on scents.

David Morley during his meeting with perfumer Penny Williams at Warwick University's Writer's Room

If you want to hear and smell the result of these exchanges, then do come to a special Scratch and Sniff event at the Book Club, London on 12th June 2012. Book now!

We will also be publishing a poetry pamphlet, which will be on sale at the event, and subsequently available to purchase in bookshops and online.

You can find out more on the website, here.

We are very kindly sponsored by Seven Scents and funded by IdeasTap!