Podcast appearances and mentions of Ruth Padel

Lost in storiesIs life a story or a sequence of events?Our narratives enable us to make sense of the complex, often confusing, world that we live in. And yet there is a risk that rather than helping us to truly understand this world, narratives can hide reality from us, providing delusional states of mind in its place. From witch hunts to cults, from war propaganda to religious honour killings, people are prepared to kill and die for stories they believe in, while others see these narratives as wildly false illusions.Matthew Beaumont is Professor of English at University College London, UK and the author of several books, including two on the topic of late nineteenth-century utopianism. He has also edited several essay collections and published numerous articles in scholarly journals.Ruth Padel is a poet, broadcaster, and critic whose engagement with the natural world infuses her volumes of poetry, nature writing, biography, and criticism.Theodore Dalrymple is the pen-name for Anthony Malcolm Daniels, an English cultural critic, prolific writer, satirist, prison physician, and psychiatrist. And don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode!To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us a textPsssssssssst!  We've invited Ruth Padel to share work from her recent Chatto Poetry collection Girl. She talks about the power of girls, the mythologies woven around them and the responsibilities they must accept. She'll take us from Mary at the Annunciation (wearing a Primark T-shirt) to glimpsing a Serpent Queen from the 88 bus. Robin shares her long-held enthusiasm for 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem - also by Ruth Padel. And we celebrate  Siegfried Baber's spanking new pamphlet The Twice Turned Earth from Poetry Salzburg, discovering a poignant poem about Star Wars collectibles. Support the showPlanet Poetry is a labour of love!If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coffee!

Sex has become one of the most controversial topics in the history of the Church. But the historian Diarmaid MacCulloch shows in his book, Lower Than the Angels, that in the last 2,500 years Christianity has encompassed a much greater diversity of beliefs, including on homosexuality and the role of women. He argues that far from there being a single Christian theology of sex, there have always been a wide range of readings and attitudes.In one of the foundational stories of the Bible, in Genesis, Eve is created as an afterthought, from one of Adam's ribs, to be his companion. The classicist Helen King puts the female body at the centre of her book, Immaculate Forms, and examines the ways in which religion, and medicine, have played a gatekeeping role over women's bodies.The prize-winning poet, Ruth Padel, re-imagines the Christian story of the Virgin Mary – a girl in a Primark t-shirt facing a life shaped by divine will. Her new collection, Girl, unravels the myths and icons surrounding girlhood, and also paints a portrait of the Cretan ‘snake goddess' as she's unearthed and reshaped at the hands of a male archaeologist.Presenter: Amanda Vickery is Professor in Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of LondonProducer: Katy Hickman

Che si parli di uccelli, di pesci o di esseri umani, persino di piante, la migrazione è una realtà che da sempre accomuna gli esseri viventi. Per necessità o per scelta, l'uomo e molti altri animali si spostano sin dall'alba dei tempi, spinti da guerre o catastrofi naturali, ma anche da istinti radicati nel profondo della loro stessa natura o dalla semplice curiosità. La protagonista di questa puntata, la poetessa e accademica inglese Ruth Padel, sostiene infatti che "La migrazione ha creato il mondo". Nei suoi scritti riflette sulla sopravvivenza come motore universale, che muove ogni spostamento sul pianeta Terra e fa da volano per l'evoluzione. A Festivaletteratura 2023 gli sguardi della scienza e della poesia sulle migrazioni si sono incrociati nel dialogo tra Ruth Padel e il biologo evoluzionista Telmo Pievani. Insieme alla traduttrice Paola Splendore, i due hanno riflettuto su ciò che spinge gli uomini e gli animali a partire, in un incontro tra prosa e poesia, tra scienza e filosofia.

Lee Stockdale is an American poet, Episcopalian, and army veteran. He won the prestigious UK National Poetry Competition Prize 2022 for his poem “My Dead Father's General Store in the Middle of a Desert”. His father, Grant Stockdale, was a close friend of John F. Kennedy; Lee's mother, Alice Boyd Magruder, was a poet. On the podcast this week, Lee Stockdale talks to Sarah Meyrick about his shock at winning the prize, which had more than 17,000 entries. Former winners include Sinéad Morrissey, Ruth Padel, and Carol Ann Duffy. “I really believe the Holy Spirit just thought, here's a poem that may be not just literary, whatever that is, but could perhaps be helpful and healing. I think that's what happened,” he says. It is “a gift”, he says, because the poem refers to his father's death by suicide when Lee was 11. “I'm now 70, and I've worked through that. I've come out on the other side.” He hopes that his poem offers hope. Lee's debut collection, Gorilla, was published last year. https://www.leestockdale.com Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

For our watery and wild Verb - which flows though the water of chalk streams, the ocean, a baby's bath water, and birth waters - Ian McMillan is joined by Ruth Padel, Vik Sharma, Caroline Bergvall and Will Burns. Ruth and Vik share their collaboration '24 Splashes of Denial' which combines an apprehension of loss with vast and delicate beauty, Will Burns reads a new commission for The Verb on his experience of chalk streams (a globally rare and 'gin-clear' habitat) in Buckinghamshire, and Caroline Bergvall opens a door in our watery imagination, tracing the idea of refuge in extracts from her project 'Nattsong'. Wild Poetry 'Call-out' ! From Ian McMillan: "As part of the BBC's celebration of our wild isles, we thought we'd tap into the deep waters of the Verb listeners' collective and individual imaginations. We want to see your poems that use the idea of wildness as their seed – they could be as short as a haiku – or as long as twenty lines – that's the limit. We're particularly interested in poems that take the word ‘wild' itself on a journey. Email your poems to Theverb@bbc.co.uk. Although we won't be able to respond to each poem, together they'll give us a national snapshot - a moment in wild time that we'll explore later in the year; we'll share some of your poems on-air. Send us your poems by the 23rd of June."

This is a live session from Jaipur Lit Fest 2022. A Thousand Miles: Vinod Kapri and Barkha Dutt in conversation with Chinmay Tumbe, with poetry reading by Ruth Padel.

This podcast presents the fourth and final segment of our four-part series ‘Beethoven Variations: A Poet’s Journey through the Music and Life of Beethoven’ with renowned British poet Ruth Padel and eminent pianist Karl Lutchmayer. This series has been put together by Prateeti Punja Ballal. In Part IV of the series, Ruth and Karl take us through Beethoven’s last years. His last great love affair, when he was forty-one, was a prelude to five years of barrenness, misery and writer’s block − and then to some of the most poignant, profound and redemptive music ever written. In this four-part series, Ruth Padel takes us on an intimate journey through Beethoven’s life and music, illustrated by her poetry from her recent book. Professor of Poetry at King’s College London, she has written many collections of poetry, and books of non-fiction and fiction. Her earlier book Darwin: A Life in Poems, released on Darwin’s centenary, captured her great great grandfather memorably. Concert pianist and lecturer, Karl Lutchmayer held an academic lectureship at the Trinity College of Music in London, now Trinity Laban, for fifteen years. He has played at all the major London concert halls and across the world, and his London lecture-recital series, Conversational Concerts, garnered critical and public acclaim. Karl performs Beethoven’s music for us and gives us his insights into its composition and context. Ruth and Karl are joined by guest artists, soprano Nina Kanter, cellist David Waterman and the Endellion String Quartet, one of the world’s leading quartets.

This podcast presents the third segment of our four-part series ‘Beethoven Variations: A Poet’s Journey through the Music and Life of Beethoven’ with renowned British poet Ruth Padel and eminent pianist Karl Lutchmayer. This series has been put together by Prateeti Punja Ballal. In Part III of the series, titled ‘The Essence of Romanticism’, poet Ruth Padel and pianist Karl Lutchmayer take us through the time when Beethoven is thirty-five, and Napoleon’s army captures and occupies Vienna and its Empire. Along with his anguish in this time of war, he keeps losing chances of love. Through it all, he continues writing works that will live forever, such as the Fifth Symphony, after which this episode gets its title. In this four-part series, Ruth Padel takes us on an intimate journey through Beethoven’s life and music, illustrated by her poetry from her recent book. Professor of Poetry at King’s College London, she has written many collections of poetry, and books of non-fiction and fiction. Her earlier book Darwin: A Life in Poems, released on Darwin’s centenary, captured her great great grandfather memorably. Concert pianist and lecturer, Karl Lutchmayer held an academic lectureship at the Trinity College of Music in London, now Trinity Laban, for fifteen years. He has played at all the major London concert halls and across the world, and his London lecture-recital series, Conversational Concerts, garnered critical and public acclaim. Karl performs Beethoven’s music for us and gives us his insights into its composition and context. Ruth and Karl are joined, for the Fifth Symphony, by guest artists from the South Asian Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra’s founder-trustee, Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao. The Orchestra is a peace-building initiative made up of musicians from the countries of South Asia and the South Asian diaspora.  

This is the first segment of our four-part series ‘Beethoven Variations: A Poet’s Journey through the Music and Life of Beethoven’ with renowned British poet Ruth Padel and eminent pianist Karl Lutchmayer. This series has been put together by Prateeti Punja Ballal. In Part I of the series, Ruth and Karl take us through Beethoven’s early years, his childhood in Bonn, his arrival in Vienna first as a virtuoso Pianist and then as a promising composer, and his early worries, at age 28, about deafness. In the series, Ruth will take us on an intimate journey through Beethoven’s life and music, illustrated by her poetry from her recent book. Professor of Poetry at King’s College London, she has written many collections of poetry, and books of non-fiction and fiction. Her earlier book Darwin: A Life in Poems, released on Darwin’s centenary, captured her great great grandfather memorably. Concert pianist and lecturer, Karl Lutchmayer held an academic lectureship at the Trinity College of Music in London, now Trinity Laban, for 15 years. He has played at all the major London concert halls and across the world, and his London lecture-recital series, Conversational Concerts, garnered critical and public acclaim. Karl will perform Beethoven’s music for us and give us his insights into its composition and context. In future episodes, they will be joined by guest artists, soprano Nina Kanter, cellist David Waterman and the Endellion String Quartet, one of the world’s leading quartets, and the South Asian Symphony Orchestra with musicians from the countries of South Asia and the diaspora. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, and Stitcher.

Three major Indian poets discuss the poetic imagination, searching its sources, inspirations and philosophy. Eminent English poet and translator Arvind Krishna Mehrotra speaks of his influences, among which he acknowledges William Carlos Williams and the Beat poets, as well as Kabir. Iconic Hindi poet and critic Ashok Vajpeyi has nurtured and founded many cultural institutions. Much awarded English poet, cultural theorist and curator Ranjit Hoskote is the author of the recent Jonahwhale as well as the acclaimed translation of the Kashmiri poet Lal Ded. In conversation with award-winning British poet and scholar Ruth Padel, they read from and discuss the contexts of their work as well as the wider canvas of poetics and aesthetic theories.

Like Beethoven, the poet Ruth Padel first came to love and understand music through playing the viola. Her great grandfather, a concert pianist, studied music in Leipzig with Beethoven’s friend and contemporary. Her latest collection Beethoven Variations (Chatto) is simultaneously a biography in verse of the great composer and a passionate and highly personal account of how one creative genius can feed, and feed on, another.She was joined in an evening of readings and conversation about Beethoven, poetry and music by poets Raymond Antrobus and Anthony Anaxagorou, both of whom are currently engaged in creative projects working on and from the life and work of Beethoven. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven, marking the composer's 250th anniversary year. To discuss what sets Beethoven apart from other composers, John Wilson is joined by pianist Stephen Hough, poet Ruth Padel, Oxford Professor of Music Laura Tunbridge and conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who says of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: "It is too much of everything!... this is a composer inventing the music of the next one hundred years" Throughout 2020 Simon Rattle will be conducting Beethoven with the London Symphony Orchestra, starting in January with Symphonies 7 and 9 and the rarely performed Oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives. Stephen Hough's recording of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos will be released later this year, as will Laura Tunbridge's major biography of the composer. Ruth Padel's collection Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life is published at the end of January. Radio 3 is celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with a year-long series, Beethoven Unleashed, launching on 13 January with Composer of the Week. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser

Ruth Padel talks to Arna Margrét Jónsdóttir (Marketing Assistant) and Elaine Baines (Chief Operating Officer) about her original poem, based on the frame story of 'One Thousand and One Nights', written specially for 'Scheherazade: A retelling for our times' at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1 December 2019. Hosted by Arna Margrét Jónsdóttir. Recorded and edited in November 2019.

Eleanor and Simon speak with Ruth Padel, who is a poet, novelist, critic and Professor of Poetry at King’s College London. Ruth spoke about her verse biography of her great-great-grandfather Charles Darwin, as well as her upcoming verse biography of Beethoven, Beethoven Variations. Ruth also discussed her brief tenure as Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 2009, and her view on the new generation of Instagram poets. You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Eleanor Halls and Simon Akam, and produced by Nicola Kean. Zahra Hankir is our communities editor. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

It's the end of Series 2, so we present a multiview, a series of views of the stories the guests have told host Tom Jackson - all inspired by their postcards, in this second series of Podcast From The Past. We'll hear Zeb Soanes, Kit de Waal, Grainne Maguire, Gideon Coe, Julian Dutton, Ruth Padel, Corrie Corfield, Simon Calder, Luke Turner and Lorraine Bowen. Wish you were here? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joining Tom Jackson to discuss the postcards from their pasts are BBC 6 Music presenter GIDEON COE and poet RUTH PADEL (Rembrandt Would Have Loved You, Voodoo Shop, The Soho Leopard, Darwin - A Life in Poems, I'm a Man: Sex, Gods and Rock 'n' Roll). In this episode we suffer health cures in Edinburgh, explore ancient caves, are threatened by both a school of killer whales and a lone tiger, and do everything we can to avoid catching rabies. Along the way we remember the endless summers of childhood, celebrate the joy of a simple postcard message and plan a cavort with David Niven. Wish you were here? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're crossing senses on The Verb this week, examining Synesthesia, with musician LJ Rich, linguist Rob Drummond, and poetry from Ruth Padel, Abi Palmer and Hannah Silva. For musician, broadcaster and synesthete LJ Rich, the world is drenched in music. With the help of a piano, she lets us inside her experience of the world, where tastes, colours and even the most boring train station make beautiful music. Verb regular, the linguist Rob Drummond has been researching the colour associations we all have with certain vowel sounds and has discovered some intriguing patterns. And there's plenty of poetry to stimulate your senses, Ruth Padel's latest collection is 'Emerald' (Chatto). The book is a meditation on grief, but is also shot through with colour. Hannah Silva presents her 'musical shirt', as made for her by Tomomi Adachi, the shirt is an invention that allows her to turn movement into sound poetry. And finally, poet and performer Abi Palmer finds that her synesthesia is heightened by the experience of water, so especially for The Verb she presents a poem written while taking a 'musical bath'... Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

BLACK BLOSSOM OF MOURNING The exceptional emotional breadth of British poetry is on display in this event featuring Sean Borodale and Ruth Padel. Borodale, described by Carol Ann Duffy as ‘the most exciting new poet I’ve read since Alice Oswald’, brings Asylum, a new collection that nods to the Underworld. Prize-winning poet Padel presents Emerald, a beautiful elegy for her mother, who died at the age of 97.

The exceptional emotional breadth of British poetry is on display in this event featuring Sean Borodale and Ruth Padel, recorded live at the 2018 Edinburgh International Book Festival. Borodale, described by Carol Ann Duffy as ‘the most exciting new poet I’ve read since Alice Oswald’, brings Asylum, a new collection that nods to the Underworld. Prize-winning poet Padel presents Emerald, a beautiful elegy for her mother, who died at the age of 97.

As part of Poetry & Lyrics Festival 2017, the Poet in the City Producers present this special edition podcast episode. Together we explore how the realms of poetic language and music have helped map the search for a perfect world - be it personal, political, or spiritual. We examine the potential for Utopia, and its flaws, taking the listener on a creative journey to imagine the impossible. A unique arrangement of performances, reflection and debate with Dr Ruth Padel, the Reverend Lucy Winkett, James Massiah and Niles Hailstones from Asheber & The Afrikan Revolution. Poet in the City Producers is a group of talented 16-25 year olds changing the way we see poetry by producing innovative media and live events to promote this age-old art form in the modern world. This special edition podcast episode is brought to you by Poet in the City Producers Axel Kacoutié, Amica Sciortino Nowlan, Ariel Silverman, Louisa Danquah, Milica Cortanovacki and Olivia Amura.

In the final episode of our two Man Booker International Prize 2017 podcasts, host Joe Haddow speaks to translator Jessica Cohen who describes living with and dreaming about the characters in winning book A Horse Walks into a Bar, and author David Grossman as he recounts the call he received from the President of Israel to congratulate him on winning the prize, whose wife screamed with joy when she heard the news. We also hear from actor Toby Jones and former Man Booker International judge Ruth Padel who took part in our Translation at its Finest event at Foyles in London earlier in the week. Joe also takes us backstage at the Victoria and Albert Museum for the winner ceremony and speaks to 2010 Man Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson, shortlisted author Samanta Schweblin and her translator Megan McDowell, last year's winning translator Deborah Smith (The Vegetarian) and actress Fiona Shaw.

Poetry and poison combine as we look at a lavishly illustrated history of arsenic in the home and a book-length Christmas poem

A stocking crammed full of goodness this month with a Books of the Year chat with Jen Campbell; Ruth Padel on her new collection, Tidings, and Jeanette Winterson on why she loves Christmas and some of the stories behind her new book Christmas Days. This is just part one; part two arrives before the new year to tell you all about the books we're looking forward to in 2017.Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/vintagebooksSign up to our bookish newsletter to hear all about our new releases, see exclusive extracts and win prizes: po.st/vintagenewsletterJeanette Winterson - Christmas Days'Packed with charm and beautifully illustrated, it's a book that will solve your gift dilemmas and let you escape the less salubrious aspects of Christmas for a literary wonderland' StylistEverybody loves a Christmas story. The tradition of the Twelve Days of Christmas is a tradition of celebration, sharing and giving. And what better way to do that than with a story?Read these stories by the fire, in the snow, travelling home for the holidays. Give them to friends, wrap them up for someone you love, read them aloud, read them alone, read them together. Enjoy the season of peace and goodwill, mystery, and a little bit of magic.There are ghosts here and jovial spirits. Chances at love and tricks with time.There is frost and icicles, mistletoe and sledges. There’s a cat and a dog and a solid silver frog. There’s a Christmas cracker with a surprising gift inside.There’s a haunted house and a SnowMama. There are Yuletides and holly wreaths. Three Kings. And a merry little Christmas time.And for the icing on the Christmas cake, there are twelve festive recipes from Yuletides past and present. Red cabbage, gravlax, turkey biryani, sherry trifle, Mrs Winterson’s mince pies and more.Ruth Padel - Tidings‘Come with meto St Pancras Old Church, on a little London hill...’It’s Christmas Eve and on this enchanted night Charoum, the Angel of Silence, can speak. As night turns to day, he unfolds a resonant story of a little girl, a homeless man and a fox...In the tradition of Charles Dickens and Dylan Thomas, Tidings takes us on a journey into the heart of Christmas, showing us celebrations down the ages and across the globe – as dawn sweeps from East Australia to Bethlehem, from London to the Statue of Liberty in New York.This is Christmas in all its magic, reminding us that it is a time not only of good tidings, but of loneliness and longing, compassion and connection.Beautifully illustrated and exquisitely musical, Tidings is a poem to be read out loud and cherished. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this podcast, Ruth Padel reads from and discusses her new long poem, 'Tidings', a Christmas tale featuring a little girl, a homeless man and a fox, that takes us on a journey from Australia to London and New York via Rome and Bethlehem, She is in conversation with fellow poet Sarah Howe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

New film The Birth of a Nation takes the title from DW Griffith's 1915 silent film but not much else. Directed by and starring Nate Parker, it tells the true story of an 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia. Ashley Clarke reviews.Poet Ruth Padel discusses her latest book Tidings, a narrative Christmas poem about a little girl, a homeless man and a fox. It takes the reader all around the world, from St Pancras churchyard in London to Bethlehem, Australia and New York. Joan Eardley's painting career lasted only 15 years but, at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, her work gets more requests than Picasso. The gallery's curator Patrick Elliott discusses a new exhibition of her work alongside composer Helen Grime, whose composition Snow is inspired by Eardley's paintings. In the spring of 1995, actor Mark Lockyer was playing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Shakespeare Company when he was overcome with anxiety, fear and paranoia. It was the start of a bipolar attack. Now he has turned that experience into a one man show called Living With The Lights On at the Young Vic in London.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Angie Nehring.

“So called lifeless rocks”—Star Power–the Life in Stones: Who Knew?—a rocking show on new science and old poetry—We will rock you from Homer to Shakespeare to John Muir—to T.S. Eliot–to D.H. Lawrence—to Ruth Padel –and even yours truly, You Are … Continue reading → The post On this week’s Smithsonian News from the Department of Terrestial Magnetism That Life Begins With Rocks first appeared on Dr. Barbara Mossberg » Poetry Slowdown.

In On Elizabeth Bishop novelist and essayist Colm Tóibín provides a deeply personal meditation on one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, and one who has had a powerful influence on his own work. ‘Above all,’ writes Saskia Hamilton, ‘he honours Bishop’s exact ways with language, and his sifting of what is said from what is unsaid in her poetry illuminates his own watchful and patient art as a novelist.’ Tóibín joined us at the shop to talk about Elizabeth Bishop with the poet and critic Ruth Padel whose most recent collection, Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth, was published by Chatto in 2014. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tom Sutcliffe discusses evolution and extinction with Jules Pretty, who's been travelling to meet "enduring people in vanishing lands" and is concerned about their future; with Andreas Wagner on solving what he calls evolution's greatest puzzle - how can random mutations over a mere 3.8 billion years solely be responsible for eyeballs; poet Ruth Padel on what we can learn from animals and Chris Stringer who's been looking at ancient human occupation of Britain and how homo sapiens may have driven other humans to extinction.

How great artists and thinkers responded to the First World War through individual works of art10.The poet Ruth Padel reflects on the German artist Kathe Kollwitz's memorial for her youngest son Peter, who died on the battlefields of the First World War in October 1914.The German painter, printmaker and sculptor created some of the greatest and most searing accounts of the tragedies of poverty, hunger and war in the 20th century.The death of her youngest son, Peter, in October 1914, prompted a prolonged period of deep depression, but by the end of that year she was turning her thoughts to creating a moument to Peter and his fallen comrades.She destroyed this first monument in 1919 and began again in 1925. The final memorial, entitled The Grieving Parents, was finally completed in 1932 and placed in the cemetery where Peter lay.The poet Ruth Padel traces Kollwitz's long period of anguish and artistic growth.Producer : Beaty Rubens.

Ruth Padel introduces a series of poems exploring our relationship with the natural world, and explains why nature, and our connection to it, is one of poetry's abiding themes.

Ruth Padel reads her poem about painting, corruption and the destruction of the environment. Part of 'Poems on the Biosphere', a collection of poetry curated for Free Word by Ruth Padel exploring our changing relationship with the natural world.

Ruth Padel reads Emily Dickinson's "There Came a Wind Like a Bugle", as part of Poems on the Biosphere, a collection of poetry curated by Ruth Padel for Free Word exploring our changing relationship with the natural world.

In The Mara Crossing, poet Ruth Padel explores in poetry and prose the theme of home and what being native means, as our borders shift and human and animal migration moves across the globe. Where is a swallow’s real home? And what does it mean to be native if an English oak tree is an immigrant from Spain? In Strands, poet Jean Sprackland takes us on a meditative walk along the wild estuarial beaches of Ainsdale Sands between Blackpool and Liverpool. In this beachcomber’s book, the tides constantly turn up revelations: mermaid’s purses, lugworms, sea potatoes, messages in bottles, buried cars, beached whales, a perfect cup from a Cunard liner. Chaired by Caroline Beck. Recorded on Saturday 27 October 2012 at Durham Book Festival. For more information about the festival, see www.durhambookfestival.com.

Ruth Padel reads poems and prose from her book The Mara Crossing on images of migration In this podcast Ruth Padel reads poems and prose from her book The Mara Crossing on images of migration from cells in our body to the UK Border Agency and British strategies for detention and forced deportation. Her central image the crossing of the crocodile-filled Mara River by thousands of wildebeest at the end of the longest mammal migration, becomes an image for the struggle of all migrants.

Prize-winning poet, essayist, dramatist and actor Ramsey Nasr was voted Poet Laureate of the Netherlands in 2009. Nasr was in conversation with prizewinning British poet Ruth Padel, who has published seven poetry collections, a wide range of non-fiction, and a novel, Where the Serpent Lives. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The celebrated Fay Weldon and the superb Fatima Bhutto captivated Book Festival audiences in this 2010 event chaired by Ruth Padel.

The 30th Book Slam podcast features the inimitable Salena Godden (pictured) doing an excellent impression of herself, DBC Pierre discussing his latest novel, 'Lights Out In Wonderland' and one-man-and-his-pram Lewis Floyd Henry tearing it up like a poster boy for post-Hendrix. Plus acclaimed poet Ruth Padel faces the fear of Angebot and the Book Slam Big 5. Patrick thanks everyone, no thanks to Elliott. 

The celebrated Fay Weldon and the superb Fatima Bhutto captivated Book Festival audiences in this 2010 event chaired by Ruth Padel. Despite their widely different backgrounds, both Fay Weldon and Fatima Bhutto share the way in which a parent’s loss affected their understanding of the world.

Ruth Padel muses on Darwin's experiences in Edinburgh and Brazil, and reads the poems that she was inspired to write: "Haunted", "He hangs out with a taxidermist", "A quarrel in Bahia Harbour".

Ruth Padel discusses the relationship between Darwin and his wife Emma and how her religiosity sometimes conflicted with his scientific beliefs.She reads her poems "The Open Window", "He Leaves a Message on the Edge" and "`He ignores his father's advice".

The poet Ruth Padel talks about her great great grandfather, Charles Darwin, and how she has responded to his life and work in her poetry.

Transcript -- The poet Ruth Padel talks about her great great grandfather, Charles Darwin, and how she has responded to his life and work in her poetry.

Ruth Padel and Sheila Ochugboju reflect on Darwin's childhood, and Ruth reads her poems "The Chapel School", The year my mother died", "The miser".

Poet and Darwin-descendent Ruth Padel talks about how the history books led her to write "Darwin, a life in poems", an anthology of fifteen poems charting the major events of Darwin's life.

Poet and Darwin-descendent Ruth Padel talks about how the history books led her to write "Darwin, a life in poems", an anthology of fifteen poems charting the major events of Darwin's life. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Poet and Darwin-descendent Ruth Padel talks about how the history books led her to write "Darwin, a life in poems", an anthology of fifteen poems charting the major events of Darwin's life. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the poet Ruth Padel. She is a highly acclaimed writer who is fascinated with the natural world around her. She's said of her poetry: "wildness, and wild animals lie at the heart of what I feel about writing". And perhaps that's no surprise - she is the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin. As a child, her hero was Bagheera - the black panther from The Jungle Book. For a time, she confesses, she used to want to be a black panther. Later, she simply wanted to marry one. As an adult she has spent several years travelling across India, Sumatra and parts of Russia tracking tigers and trying to understand their lives. She notes ruefully that while her illustrious ancestor was involved in understanding how different species came into being, her own work was more a matter of documenting their decline. Her interests have been with her since childhood. Back then, she says, "looking at nature properly, knowing the names of the plants, seeing how the petals worked, observing animal behaviour was just there. That was what you did. That was what being a person was."[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: E Voi Ridete? - And you're laughing? by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Iliad by Homer Luxury: A lot of paper and pencils.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the poet Ruth Padel. She is a highly acclaimed writer who is fascinated with the natural world around her. She's said of her poetry: "wildness, and wild animals lie at the heart of what I feel about writing". And perhaps that's no surprise - she is the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin. As a child, her hero was Bagheera - the black panther from The Jungle Book. For a time, she confesses, she used to want to be a black panther. Later, she simply wanted to marry one. As an adult she has spent several years travelling across India, Sumatra and parts of Russia tracking tigers and trying to understand their lives. She notes ruefully that while her illustrious ancestor was involved in understanding how different species came into being, her own work was more a matter of documenting their decline. Her interests have been with her since childhood. Back then, she says, "looking at nature properly, knowing the names of the plants, seeing how the petals worked, observing animal behaviour was just there. That was what you did. That was what being a person was." [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: E Voi Ridete? - And you're laughing? by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Iliad by Homer Luxury: A lot of paper and pencils.

Although best known in the English-speaking world for his autobiography I Saw Ramallah, Mourid Barghouti has published 14 volumes of poetry. After treating the audience to a reading from his work in both English and (briefly) Arabic, he answered a range of questions from both the audience and Ruth Padel, focusing primarily on the political background to his work. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Soul. In his poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium' WB Yeats wrote:An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unlessSoul clap its hands and sing, and louder singFor every tatter in its mortal dress. For Plato it was the immortal seat of reason, for Aristotle it could be found in plants and animals and was the essence of every being - but it died when the body died. For some it is the fount of creativity, for others the spark of God in man. What is the soul made of and where does it live? Is it the key to our individuality as humans? And when we die will our souls find paradise or purgatory, rebirth, resurrection or simply annihilation? With Richard Sorabji, Gresham Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College; Ruth Padel, poet and author; Martin Palmer, Theologian and Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Soul. In his poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ WB Yeats wrote:An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unlessSoul clap its hands and sing, and louder singFor every tatter in its mortal dress. For Plato it was the immortal seat of reason, for Aristotle it could be found in plants and animals and was the essence of every being - but it died when the body died. For some it is the fount of creativity, for others the spark of God in man. What is the soul made of and where does it live? Is it the key to our individuality as humans? And when we die will our souls find paradise or purgatory, rebirth, resurrection or simply annihilation? With Richard Sorabji, Gresham Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College; Ruth Padel, poet and author; Martin Palmer, Theologian and Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Soul. In his poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ WB Yeats wrote:An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unlessSoul clap its hands and sing, and louder singFor every tatter in its mortal dress. For Plato it was the immortal seat of reason, for Aristotle it could be found in plants and animals and was the essence of every being - but it died when the body died. For some it is the fount of creativity, for others the spark of God in man. What is the soul made of and where does it live? Is it the key to our individuality as humans? And when we die will our souls find paradise or purgatory, rebirth, resurrection or simply annihilation? With Richard Sorabji, Gresham Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College; Ruth Padel, poet and author; Martin Palmer, Theologian and Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture.