Ruth Padel, author and great-great-grand daughter of Charles Darwin in city
A descendent of Charles Darwin, Ruth Sophia Padel is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author, whose works have been highly acclaimed. She believes poetry connects with every area of life and her poems explore love, music, nature and socially engaging themes like immigration, homelessness and wildlife conservation. Engaged in relating poetry and science, her book on cell migration is said to connect micro-level cell migration to macro-level social migration. With her interest in combining poetry, science and religion, she lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Her poems on Charles Darwin (2009) was hailed by the literary world as “new species” of biography in verse. Presently a Professor of Poetry at the Kings College, London, Ruth Padel, the great-great-grand-daughter of Darwin, was in city last week talking about her books and also releasing her collection of poems on Beethoven, ‘Beethoven Variations’ at an event under the aegis of Mysuru Book Clubs-2015. Star of Mysore caught up with her where she talks about Darwin (an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution), his influence, the need to live and let live. Excerpts.—Ed
