Vampire Squid by Prema Arasu

When a poet places their colleagues at the Deep-Sea Research Centre under the microscope, the scientists tasked with exploring the mysteries of the deep become the observed.

You are what you see. The deep sea – home of the uncanny vampire squid – is fathomless and mysterious, but so too are the scientists who observe the creatures of the deep.

Full of wry wit and ironic scrutiny, Vampire Squid examines the relationship between humans and the deep sea as the poet places their colleagues under the microscope to draw attention not only to the teeming life beneath the sea, but the distinctive ways that oceanographer, geoscientist, taxonomist, marine biologist and geneticist interpret the same world through very different eyes.

About the Author: Prema Arasu is a writer and academic at the Deep-Sea Research Centre at the University of Western Australia. Their research utilises transdisciplinary and creative methods to investigate the aesthetics of the deep sea. In 2023, Prema’s fantasy novel, The Anatomy of Witchcraft, was shortlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award.

06 Jan 2026
 

Vampire Squid: Poems from the deep sea by Prema Arasu ISBN 9781760995195