Friday, February 20, 2009

Darwin: A Life in Poems


Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago this year and there have been many books and programmes to mark the anniversary. Poet Ruth Padel is a great-great- granddaughter of Darwin and has written a book of poetry about his life.
Irish Times review by Irish poet Seán Lysaght here.
Feature on the book here.
Includes this by Padel: “Poetry and science are totally connected, they both work by absolute hard clarity and precision. People use the word ‘poetic’ as if it means ‘woffly’. But it doesn’t. Poetry is fierce and precise and accurate, and it works by minutiae – one syllable against another – and also by clarity. And imagination, of course.”

Darwin: A Life in Poems is published by Chatto Windus at 12.99 in UK.
Economist review here.
Short interview with Ruth Padel and a reading from the book on the 12 February Nature podcast here.

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