About The Adventures of Lion and Sloth

The Adventures of Lion and Sloth began as a place to showcase my poems and accompanying handmade projects.

I kept going to poetry readings where all anyone ever sold were pamphlets and chapbooks. Pamphlets are lovely and cheap and nice to collect, but I thought it might be nice to add some variety to the table. So, I made ‘Poetry Pets’  to go with a few of my poems – to help showcase my poetry as well as challenge my sewing skills! Each pet was linked to a poem I’d written and came with a hand-crafted copy of the poem that inspired it.

However, as my focuses have shifted in the past year or two, I’ve stopped making Poetry Pets for the time being (although there are still some left if you’re desperate for a limited edition friend!). Instead, on this site, you can check out the archive of my Poetry Pets in the store, which will hopefully house new and various handmade delights in the future. You can also visit the writing section to read some of my published poetry.

always,

Ps. I’d also like to give a huge thanks to handsome Stuart who is my go-to guy on all artistic endeavors. Stuart does all the drawn art on the site, while I sort how to make his many creative visions a reality. In the pipeline: Stuart’s flip-notebooks, screen-printed tea towels. Watch this space!

THANKS FOR STOPPING IN! HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

Bio:
Aiko is a Los Angeles native, now living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She completed double Bachelor degrees in English (Creative Writing focus) and Mass Communications (specialization in Computing) at UCLA in 2006, and an MSc in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the University of Edinburgh in 2009. Prior to moving to Edinburgh, Aiko lived in Japan, teaching English to high school students with the JET Programme and spending time with her maternal Japanese family living there.
Her poetry is published in a handful of magazines, listed in complete in her Poetry CV. She won the 2009 Grierson Verse Prize and received a William Hunter Sharpe memorial scholarship in creative writing. She was a Poet in Residence at the 5th London Poetry Festival in 2009.
Aiko is versed in web design, and book typesetting, layout and design, gaining experience in these skills previously on Westwind (UCLA’s undergraduate literary journal), the Edinburgh Review and textualities.net. She was a member of the Forest Publications editorial team, focusing on publication funding, copy-editing and web maintenance. In her free time, Aiko likes to make artisan chapbooks, sew Poetry Pets, and bake far too many sweets for her own good.
Extra fun stats:
Aiko’s all-time favorites include: Rube Goldberg Machines, S’s home baking, all animals great and small, Dick Bruna’s Miffy/Nijntje, having a long lie, learning new things, communication studies, road trips, suntraps, carnivorous plants.
Aiko turned 30 in 2014. #nbd
Aiko & handsome S got married in 2012!
Aiko recently hit her 5 year work-iversary at the University of Edinburgh.
Aiko has been driving a car for 14 years, in 4 countries so far!
Aiko has been playing basketball since she was 7 years old, which is probably longer than you have been alive.