BLACK BOX PUBLICATIONS

VINTAGE POISON

 

a short history...

 

Vintage Poison began in the Summer of 2006, when five friends, Lucy Leagrave, Kevin Reinhardt, Gareth Lewis, Toby Davies and Robert Yates, met up in a small underground pub and decided to start a publishing press and a series of live events devoted to new storytellers, poets and artists. All of the five knew each other from the live poetry scene and had a shared fondness for the perverse, strange and alternative.

 

The primary motivation was to act as a kind of antidote to modern British poetry, which they saw as being dominated by smug, middle class "ceremonial pieces" on one side (the kind you find in poetry magazines, where every tiny moment in life is presented as a rapturous ceremony of one sort or another) and humourless, narcissistic pieces on the other side, usually about identity politics.

 

It's fair to say, what with the rise of Kate Tempest and Andrew Motion winning the prize for innovation in poetry this year, that we lost this fight, but we continue to live in hope.

 

The early days were rocky.

 

Lucy came up with the name and then threw herself into writing and creating boutique poetry events. Gareth stole the various pieces of software from the internet that you need to set up a press. Kevin began organizing events which defied expectation, common sense or reason. Toby flounced out early on because he believed (probably rightly) that he would have more fun performing at the events than organizing them. He then went mad. Robert very quickly gleaned that the whole thing sounded like real work and retreated to his mansion in Pimlico.

 

And then there were three.

 

What followed, over the last near-decade, was the creation of many, many live nights, the publication of six or so books (most of which make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER), a general mouthing off repeatedly on facebook about whatever took our fancy, four death threats, three GBH threats and one offer of a litter of kittens. Throughout, we have tried to be as drunken, rude and as rambunctious as possible.

 

What's next?

 

Vintage Poison publishes about one title a year, but is stepping up its production to two titles a year. In 2015, the two books due to come out are Raymond Blake's "Not Stopping on a Snowy Evening", and Emily Spencer's "The Big Book of Celebrity Atrocities".

 

Kevin runs one regular live night, Bingo Master's Breakout, a combination of bingo, karoake and performance poetry, with a live band half way through the night. 

 

Where can I find more information?

 

There's a wealth of information about Vintage Poison's publishing history, authors and live events on their website, which you can find here. There's also lots of excerpts from the books, which should give you an idea as to whether the press is your cup of tea.

 

In terms of live nights and general waffle, you should join our facebook page, or read the facebook feeds on this website. 

 

Where can I buy the books?

 

You can buy Vintage Poison titles from the purchase page here,  or from the VP website here.