Biography
Scarlett Sabet is a poet and performer based in London. In 2012, she wrote, directed, and starred in her poetic short film "Burning," produced by BAFTA-winning producer Charlie Hanson. Her debut collection, "Rocking Underground," was launched with a reading at the Chelsea Arts Club in November 2014.
Her second collection, "The Lock And The Key," debuted with a reading at Shakespeare and Company in Paris in July 2016. That October, GQ online released a video of Scarlett performing her poem "Feathers" at Leighton House to mark National Poetry Day. In September 2016, Sir Van Morrison invited her to perform at the Aspects Literary Festival in Belfast.
In January 2017, Scarlett was interviewed and gave a reading for the BBC World Service radio program "Van Morrison And Me," hosted by journalist John McCarthy, alongside Sir Van Morrison, Brian Keenan, and novelist Ian Rankin. In April 2017, poet and Professor Dr. Dan Chiasson invited her to read at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She was nominated for the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship in May 2017. In December of the same year, Scarlett presented a reading and exhibited her political poems alongside acclaimed photographer Jim Marshall’s work at The Troubadour in London for the Peace and Light exhibition.
In March 2018, Scarlett launched her third poetry collection, "Zoreh," with a reading at the iconic City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. On Valentine’s Day 2019, she released "Camille," a collection of nearly 50 love poems, with a launch event at Shakespeare and Co in Paris. Hunger magazine, interviewing Scarlett for the launch, praised her as “one of the brightest new stars on the international poetry scene,” renowned for her beautiful prose and emotive readings, and included her among the new-generation poets to watch in 2019.
In October 2019, Scarlett released "Catalyst," a radical spoken word album available on vinyl and all streaming platforms. The album features seven poems written and performed by Scarlett and was produced by legendary musician Jimmy Page, who crafted a visceral sonic landscape around the poems, forging a new poetic form and language.
Scarlett has performed at festivals and venues including the Aspects Literary Festival and No Alibi's bookshop in Belfast, the Listowel Literary Festival in Ireland, and numerous London locations such as The Troubadour, William Morris Gallery, World's End Bookshop, Burberry, The Groucho Club, Mortimer House, The Rosemary Branch Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Atlantis Bookshop, Leighton House Museum, and the Handel & Hendrix Museum. In New York, she has read at KGB, Bowery Poetry, Berl’s Bookshop, and 186f Kepler. In Massachusetts, her readings include Wellesley College and The Town And The County Festival. In Seattle, she has appeared at Elliot Bay Books and conducted a poetry reading and workshop for teenagers in the youth program at Paul Allen’s Museum of Pop Culture.
Scarlett and her work have been featured on Sky News, BBC, London Live TV, Soho Radio, GQ, Tatler, The London Magazine, Violet Book, and Hunger Magazine.
Award-winning poet Matthew Yeager described her work as “a darkly sonorous vowel music... full of wildness, and reverence for the spiritual forces at play in the world.” Professor Dan Chiasson called her “one of the brightest new stars in poetry’s firmament.” Sir Van Morrison praised her poetry, saying, “What strikes me about Scarlett’s work is that it’s very cutting edge and making poetry interesting again. I love both the intensity and the spiritual aspect she conveys.”
