Phyllis King

Phyllis April King, née Leiterman,{{cite news |title=Douglas Leiterman obituary |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/douglas-leiterman-of-cbc-s-this-hour-has-seven-days-has-died-1.1292995 |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=31 December 2012 |quote=Survived by ...his sister Phyllis King}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ivor-cutler-469155.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422194624/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ivor-cutler-469155.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 April 2008|title=Ivor Cutler – Obituaries – News – The Independent|last=Irwin|first=Colin|date=9 March 2006|work=The Independent|accessdate=4 May 2014}}{{cite news|url=http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/the-wacky-world-of-ivor-cutler-158869n.23873052|title=The wacky world of Ivor Cutler|work=Evening Times|accessdate=4 May 2014}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/k/ki/king_cutler.html|title=King Cutler|accessdate=4 May 2014}}

Personal life

King was born in Canada to a creative family whose siblings Douglas,

Richard{{cite news |title=Richard Leiterman obituary |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-richard-leiterman/149714772/ |access-date=26 February 2025 |publisher=Toronto Star |date=17 July 2005 |pages=22}} 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.{{cite book |editor1-last=Feldman |editor1-first=Seth |title=Allan King: Filmmaker |date=2002 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0968913210 |page=88 |url=https://archive.org/details/allankingfilmmak0000unse}} 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.{{cite journal|last=Wyatt|first=Robert|year=2006|journal=Mojo|publisher=EMAP Performance Limited|issue=150–153|quote=Finally, we must mention Phyllis April King, who nurtured Ivor and kept an eye on him.}}{{cite news|url=http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/theatre-comedy-dance/theatre-review-beautiful-cosmos-of-ivor-cutler-1-3373794|title=Theatre review: Beautiful Cosmos Of Ivor Cutler – The Scotsman|date=12 April 2014|work=The Scotsman|accessdate=4 May 2014}} Cutler wrote the song "Beautiful Cosmos" about her.{{cite web|url=http://citizenstheatre.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-beautiful-cosmos-of-ivor-cutler-who.html|title=Who is Ivor Cutler?|last=Shepherd|first=Fiona|accessdate=4 May 2014}} She lives in Wiltshire.{{cite web|url=http://www.ivorcutler.org/content/view/61/1/|title=Phyllis King - www.ivorcutler.org|accessdate=4 May 2014}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/21/beautiful-cosmos-ivor-cutler-review-citizens-glasgow|title=The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler review – 'A big grin of a show'|date=21 April 2014|work=The Guardian|accessdate=4 May 2014}}

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}}

References

Category:English women poets

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)