The Worms Valentine’s Sale
Love is in the air—and so are exclusive deals on our online shop! Whether you're treating yourself, surprising a fellow book lover, or embracing the romance of experimental literature, we’ve got something special for you.
Offer ends on the 24th of February, so hurry up and give some Wormy love…we’ll start:
Roses are red, violets are blue,
Worms wriggle deep where the sunlight is few.
Twisting through earth, in shadows they creep,
Turning the soil while the whole world sleeps.
Soft little bodies, silent and slick,
Dancing through dirt in a rhythm so quick.
Rain calls them up, the pavement their fate,
Some make it back—others too late.
Yet under our feet, they toil away,
Feeding the roots that brighten our day.
Roses are red, violets are blue,
Without the worms, what would we do?
-by P. Eldridge-
🪱 Valentine’s isn’t just for romance–it’s the perfect time for some self love. 🪱
Treat yourself or a loved one with a thoughtful collection of gifts to nurture your inner peace and creativity. Ignite your flow state from within and dig into your writing practice with our Compost Incense, dream up your next big project with our Tending to My Writing Workbooks with prompts and exercises that encourage self-expression and meaningful reflection, and delve into the opulent world of Catgut: The Opera by Rhea Dillon, an artbook of performance and defiance.
If you can't make it to our TENDING to my WRITING workshops, please see this special edition pocket size workbook bundle as your hybrid solution. Included here is a 4-booklet pack of all the course material we will provide over the sessions for TENDING to my WRITING, printed and staple bound, for you to work with at your own pace and leisure from wherever you are. Edited and designed by Clem MacLeod and P. Eldridge.
Publication date: October 2024
Published in the UK by Worms World C.I.C.
Pamphlet | Paperback
175 × 125 mm each | 132 pages total
Patchouli, lavender, ylang ylang, cedar wood and pine needle incense.
At the core of our writing practices, is the belief that calm equals creativity. We begin each of our sessions with a meditation to ignite a flow state. For our signature Compost incense with Cremate, we have worked to find a scent that will assist in grounding before settling in for your writing practice.
In 2021, Rhea Dillon presented a performance of Catgut - The Opera as part of the Serpentine Gallery’s Park Nights series. Dillon’s libretto ruminates on the conditions and capaciousness of Black performance as experienced through the Black operatic. Taking its departure from The Masque of Blackness by Ben Jonson, a masque commissioned in the early 17th century by Queen Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, Catgut convened three orators in classic soapboxing fashion. Throughout the opera’s three acts — the essay, the poem, and the poethic — Dillon denounces the idea that the Black performing artist should or could ever exist in the mundane.
Jessica Lynne has written an emotional response in essay form, while Simone White has offered a poem to accompany the libretto. The book includes photographic documentation, and concludes with an extensive conversation between Dillon and Elaine Mitchener discussing the trials of performance as an artistic practice.
Publication date: Spring 2023
Published in the UK by Worms Publishing
Fiction | Softcover with laminate spot UV cover
ISBN: 978-1-3999-4881-4
255 × 235 mm | 144 pages
🪱 Sink your teeth into queer love in all its forms: the joyous, the sexy, the heartbreaking and messy, with queer writer and sex worker, Tilly Lawless. 🪱
Tilly’s latest novel, Thora is a steamy coming-of-age on love and friendship that immerses the reader’s senses: sweat and desire mixing with the ripe fauna and pollen of the Australian countryside. Pair Thora with Nothing But My Body, an autobiographical and lyrical debut that rejects romantic love, celebrates the queer community with euphoria, and reckons with the body as both abject and joyous. Tilly’s work will take you to the darkest depths before lifting you into a sensual state of bliss.
It’s 2009 and summer is encroaching on the town of Bellingen when Rhiannon is forced to move from her local high school to one in Coffs Harbour. Initially reluctant to leave behind her best friend Ellie, she quickly finds herself infatuated with the enigmatic Vanora. It’s only on befriending her, does she discover that like her, Vanora is a girl whose home life is shrouded in a web of secrets. Secrets that relate to her mother.
Set in the verdant Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, Thora deals with family dysfunction, emancipation through friendship, and how girlhood is affected by the isolation of the country and the solace of nature.
Tilly Lawless is a queer, Sydney-based sex worker and writer. Her debut title Nothing But My Body was published in 2021.
Cover art by Rufus Shakespeare
Publication date: 15th February 2024 (Australia) / 1st June 2024 (UK)
Published in Australia and the UK by Worms Publishing
Fiction | Paperback with hand drawn dust jacket with fold-out map by Rufus Shakespeare
ISBN: 978-1-3999-7341-0
228 × 150 mm | 164 pages
£14.99 | $30.00
Nothing But My Body is an eight-day journey through the mind of a young woman, a queer sex worker in Australia, as she navigates breakups and infatuation across just over a year.
The unnamed narrator’s voice is both fierce and vulnerable, defiant and tender, as she explores the interplay between her external and internal world, and the fluctuations of her emotions as love affairs intensify and wane. Her loneliness is assuaged by her beloved chosen family-her friends-and by the beauty of the natural world.
Set during the cataclysmic bushfire season of 2019 and into the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, sex work is the constant backdrop of the story as it moves between Sydney, Berlin, Orange and Bellingen. The beauty of the writing and the moving and deeply engaging sense of compassion that threads through this remarkable novel give true meaning to the concepts of inclusivity and community in surprising and original ways.
This stunning, unflinching and lyrical debut is both a rejection of romantic love, a euphoric celebration of the queer community and a reckoning with the body as both abject and joyous.
Publication date: 1st September 2022
Published in the UK by Worms Publishing
Fiction | Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-3999-3181-6
150 x 228mm | 152 pages
🪱 Friendship isn’t just about company—it’s about the quiet reminders that you are seen, valued and loved. 🪱
Remember You Are Loved by Sky Dair and Clem MacLeod is a meditation on the signs and serendipities of everyday life. For those who savor the pleasure of hosting friends for a meal, Worms For Luncheon presents a collection of delectable stories designed to be devoured with a complementary serving suggestion to elevate your dining experience. Think of it as nourishment for both mind and body—a meal best enjoyed with a story, friends and a fork in hand.
From Sky Dair and Clem MacLeod comes ‘Remember You Are Loved’, a Worms publication, and the sequel to 'Kind is Cool'. Accompanied by an essay by P. Eldridge, this A5 collaborative photo book is a meditation on the messages that we see in our daily lives, and encouragement to look for signs of serendipity. Lucky to be here.
Publication date: 2023
Published in the UK by Worms Publishing
Photo Book | Paperback
148 x 210 mm | 140 pages
Worms and Luncheon have come together to bring the tastiest of fertilisers, to accompany your lunch for one. Think of this publication as a wine pairing for bookworms. Each story has been tailored to your taste, with a serving suggestion accompanying each piece. Not to be read in the company of others, and only to be consumed with food.
Featuring contributions from Eileen Myles, Cecilia Pavón, Clem MacLeod, Kate Morgan, Pierce Eldridge, Juliet Jacques, Lynne Tillman, Estelle Hoy, Jodie Hill, Leone Ross, Slutty Cheff, Izdihar Afyouni, Gabriela Aquije and Stephanie LaCava. With photographs by Chieska Fortune Smith.
The 88 page thread bound publication consists of poetry, short stories, personal essays, illustrations and photographs of the cosiest spots to dine alone in.
Concept initiated by Clem MacLeod and Frances Armstrong Jones
Writing Commissioned by Clem MacLeod
Editors Clem MacLeod, Caitlin McLoughlin, Pierce Eldridge, Arcadia Molinas and Violet Conroy
Cover image by Annie Collinge
Art direction and design by Caitlin McLoughlin and Mariana Sameiro
Illustrations by Clemmie Bache
Publication date: December 2022
Published in the UK by Worms Publishing & Luncheon Editions
Fiction | Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-3999-4255-3
240 × 170 mm | 88 pages
🪱 The unruly feminine takes center stage this Valentine’s with Worms #2: Revolting Women. 🪱
Embrace the grotesque, the defiant, the unapologetically disruptive with Maggie Nelson, Tilly Lawless, Sarah Schulman, Juliana Huxtable and more. Show ‘em your worst side and give ‘em hell.
Worms #2 Revolting Women looks at women who are literally disgusting, figuratively revolting. With a focus on writers who operate on the fringes of literature, ‘revolt’ in a Worms context ranges vastly. This issue includes features with Maggie Nelson, Tilly Lawless, Sarah Schulman, Amelia Abraham, Juliana Huxtable, Juliet Jacques, Olivia Sudjic and more.
Publication date: June 2020
Published in the UK by Worms World C.I.C.
Magazine | Paperback
270 × 180 mm | 116 pages
