Phyllis King

This article is about the poet. For the tennis player, see Phyllis Mudford King.

Phyllis April King, née Leiterman,^[1] is a British poet and children's author. She appears and reads her material on Ivor Cutler's albums Dandruff, Velvet Donkey and Jammy Smears.^[2][3] King designed some of the Ivor Cutler album covers, and worked with him on the radio series King Cutler which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 1990.^[4]

Personal life

King was born in Canada to a creative family whose siblings Douglas, Richard^[5] and Elaine (Campbell) were all in film and television. She married film director Allan King, with whom she had a daughter, and they moved to London in the 1960s where she worked as a teacher.^[6] They divorced in the late 1960s.

King 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.^[7][8] Cutler wrote the song "Beautiful Cosmos" about her.^[9] She lives in Wiltshire.^[10]

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 and National Theatre of Scotland.^[11]

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) ISBN 0744514150
• Apple Green and Runner Bean – London: Walker, 1993. (Illustrated by Phyllis King) ISBN 0744547334