Coming in spring, 2026!
The Chemistry of Emotion Fiona Perry and Stephen Paul Wren
Turas Press is excited to publish this original, passionate and analytical poetic collaboration from two highly regarded poets, Fiona Perry and Stephen Paul Wren. The Chemistry of Emotion delves into a cornucopia of historical and scholarly sources that range over science, art, history and personal experience. The goal: to explore the chemical basis of core emotions common to humankind. In this innovative, playful and often poignant collection, the poets take on the mighty task of illuminating the struggle between logic and emotion that lies at the heart of the human condition.
Fiona Perry was born and brought up in Northern Ireland and has lived in England, Australia, and New Zealand. A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, and Lancaster University, she worked previously as an environmentalist in a unitary authority.
Her literary work features in many print journals including Lighthouse, The Alchemy Spoon, Skylight47 and Into The Void. Her poems also appear online in Ink, Sweat & Tears, The Blue Nib,
Her first collection of poetry, Alchemy (Turas Press, 2020), won the Poetry Book Awards (2021) Silver Medal and was shortlisted for the Rubery Prize. Her poems have gained recognition in many prestigious competitions, including the Fish Publishing Prize and Welsh Poetry Prize. Her flash fiction piece Sea Change won first prize in the Bath Flash Fiction Awards (2020).
To learn more about Fiona’s achievments, check out her Author page and our Reviews page.
Stephen Paul Wren is a scientist and poet. He received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge, and his career in chemistry and drug discovery has encompassed six universities and many companies to date. Stephen’s poetic work comprises several collections, including:
- Elementar, in collaboration with visual artist Laura Kerr) (2024, Paper View Books)
- Formulations, in collaboration with Dr Miranda Lynn Barnes, (2022, Small Press)
- A Celestial Crown of Sonnets, in collaboration with Dr Sam Illingworth, (2021, Penteract Press)
Stephen launched and developed the Molecules Unlimited poetry community, an innovative Facebook group which explores the intersect of poetry and the chemical sciences.
You can follow Stephen on Instagram/Threads and read his poetry on his website.
Two Poems from The Chemistry of Emotion on the theme of Joy
Pomander Stephen Paul Wren
We shall stud some old fruit.
Okay, that sounds like fun.
The claws can be gentle
(the cloves in oranges).
Let’s hang them from earlobes
(the pine hinges on trees).
Smell cinnamaldehyde?
Oh. That’s what I can sense!
An ore from our era.
An oast for anger. Yes!
A spice for our household
(in spaces with Rosie).
The school bazaar alive
with noise, red froth, and gloss.
Our deed occurs in hush.
It’s more endorphins than
oxytocin (I think).
The Origin of Joy Fiona Perry
birth is a brilliant cosmic flare release
it quickens under its own momentum positive feedback loop
but only happens during an effacement between worlds made thin and open
necessitating one human to be another human’s conduit a passageway
it makes sense that labours often begin during storms energy surge
falling barometric pressure resulting in the spontaneous gravitational
rupture of membranes, pulls babies into existence love hormones
if conditions are optimal, endorphins flood a mother’s brain euphoria
perhaps it is no co-incidence that the genesis of the universe altered state of consciousness
began with waves rippling through the fabric of space and time pulsating
signalling the origin of everlasting-to-everlasting being totality
and perhaps parturition joy is quantum, so that if a formless detached
black hole ever appears between parent and child, it can be refilled bliss
with a starburst of reconnection, with the bright, pure memory of spectrally perfect light