The Fire Eater's Lover by Sophia Blackwell

The Fire-Eater’s Lover is about performance of all kinds.  Whether it is the rituals of seduction, the trials and triumphs of squeezing into a red vintage dress or the adrenalin of putting a microphone to your lips, these poems are filled with the joy of performing. The Fire-Eater’s Lover conjures together scraps of everything from classic recipes to job rejection letters, marriage proposals and medical questionnaires, and whips them into a circus of illicit sex, love lost and found, bittersweet memories and moments of illumination.

‘Searing, sexy and profound. Sophia Blackwell is
a stone genius poet.
Laurie Penny

‘Some of Sophia Blackwell’s poems read like Nico should be singing them to John Cale’s viola, some as if Shakespeare’s slut sister taught him all he knew, others are as new as the next dawn. Dirty, juicy, knowing, open – works for me.’
Stella Duffy

‘Exceptionally talented… magic radiates from her performances, which are captivating, moving and often hilarious, too.’
DIVA Magazine

Sophia Blackwell was born in Newcastle. She read English at Oxford, where she started performing poetry with Hammer and Tongue. Her poetry has been anthologised by Bloodaxe, Nine Arches, The Emma Press and Sidekick Books, and her other writing has been published in Trespass, Time Out and Diva. She is the author of one other collection of poetry, Into Temptation (2009) and a novel, After My Own Heart (2012). She lives in London where she is Head of Marketing at the Bookseller.