Phyllis April King is a British

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. She appears and reads her material on

Ivor Cutler Ivor Cutler (born Isadore Cutler, 15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions recorde ...

's albums ''

Dandruff Dandruff is a skin condition that mainly affects the scalp. Symptoms include flaking and sometimes mild itchiness. It can result in social or self-esteem problems. A more severe form of the condition, which includes inflammation of the skin, ...

'', ''

Velvet Donkey ''Velvet Donkey'' is an album by Ivor Cutler, originally released in 1975 on Virgin Records. Cutler is joined on the record by Fred Frith who plays viola on several tracks, and by Phyllis King who reads six of her own poems and short stories A ...

'' and ''

Jammy Smears ''Jammy Smears'' is a studio album by Ivor Cutler, originally released in 1976. It was the last of the three albums he released on Virgin Records, and as with the previous two he is joined by Phyllis King, who reads six of her own poems and short ...

''. King designed some of the Ivor Cutler album covers, and has published poetry and children's books. She worked with Cutler on the radio series ''King Cutler'' which was broadcast on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

in 1990.

Personal life

King was first married to Canadian film director Allan King. Later she was in a long-term relationship with Ivor Cutler for over forty years up to his death in 2006 though they did not live together, preferring to retain their independence. Like Cutler, she was a teacher. Cutler wrote the song "Beautiful Cosmos" about her. She has a daughter and lives in Wiltshire.

Stage portrayal

In 2014 she was portrayed by Elicia Daly in the stage play ''The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler'', a co-production by

Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. When the set of parallel lines is perpendicul ...

and

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''Dust'' – Newcastle upon Tyne: Morden Tower Publications, 1978. * ''Close Views'' – Newcastle upon Tyne: Morden Tower Publications, 1980.

Children's books

* ''The Hungry Cat'' – London: Walker, 1986. (Illustrated by Phyllis King) * ''Apple Green and Runner Bean'' – London: Walker, 1993. (Illustrated by Phyllis King)

References

English women poets Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-poet-stub