Evolving words: bringing the past to life

Evolving Words is the second of three Manchester Literature Festival events to be held at The Manchester Museum in conjunction with its Darwin extravanza: The Evolutionist (the third is The Bird Book, on Saturday).

As we gather this evening (22 October) in the Animal Life Gallery, the event's organiser Elizabeth Lynch explains that the Evolving Words project is funded by the Wellcome Trust and is running in six cities around the country, bringing together poets and scientists with young people to explore the impact of Charles Darwin’s ideas and his example as a scientist. Where could be more appropriate to perform the resulting work than surrounded by a variety of stuffed species and with an audience sat beneath the bones of a sperm whale?

We are introduced to the Young Identity young people's collective by Shirley May of Speakeasy and Ali Gadema (aka Frisko Dan), whose show Contradictions will be at the Contact Theatre in November. Shirley and Ali are the Manchester poets who have worked with these young people to produce tonight’s performance.


For the next 30 minutes or so, a transformation happens and the gallery is brought to life with a blast of youthful energy and enthusiasm. Thoughtful, humorous and reflective words ring out in performances which show off talent and confidence in spades.

The subject matter has sparked a range of themes, from personal struggles reconciling evolution with religion to ponderings on how technology will affect future evolution.

There are many highlights, but as Saquib Chowdhury walks down the staircase at the front of the room reciting his poem on the supposed conflict between religion and evolution, he has the audience hanging off every word. His conclusion – 'Evolution does not interfere with morality' – is met with cheers from the audience.

Touching on the same theme but with a very different interpretation is Elmi Ali, who makes us laugh as well as think through his words on Darwin’s struggles with those who shunned his theories. Fascinating and funny, this enthusiastic performance is impressive.

One of tonight's most prolific poets is Bethany Hermitt, who gives a biting delivery of her carefully crafted lines in three separate performances.

The response of the performers and the audience at the end of the evening shows that everyone has enjoyed themselves tonight. This has clearly been a labour of love for everyone involved and it would be impossible not to feel uplifted and inspired by the results of young people taking the time to think about science, history and ideas, and then to articulate their own thoughts so eloquently. At the end of the performances, Manchester Literature Festival Director Cathy Bolton sums up what many of the audience must be feeling when she tells us: 'I can’t remember the last time I was in a room with so much talent.'

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Kath Horwill was formerly Head Of History at a large comprehensive in Bury and writes the blog Parklover.

The evolution of a scientist: Ruth Padel at The Manchester Museum

Much has been written about Ruth Padel of late. The poet who claimed the coveted Oxford Professor Of Poetry title had little time to celebrate her new job: just days into the role, a media storm broke. She was accused of mustering a smear campaign against her nearest rival for the post, Derek Walcott, and forced to resign.

After such a public furore, many would have scuttled off to lick their wounds in solitude. But Padel, like her great-great-grandfather, is clearly made of sterner stuff. Within days of announcing her resignation in May, she stepped out at the Hay Festival to read Survival Of The Fittest, a poem from her latest book, Darwin: A Life In Poems. The wicked irony of the poem’s title surely wasn’t lost on anyone.


It is from this book that Padel takes her readings at The Manchester Museum tonight. A cross between historical record, social documentary and family memoir (Charles Darwin is the great-great-grandfather in question), Padel’s book of poetry, which mixes her words with Darwin’s own, is easily so absorbing that any question about what did or didn’t happen at Oxford earlier this year fades into an irrelevance.

In some ways, Darwin: A Life In Poems does what it says on the tin. But rather than simply retell the scientific story, Padel reveals the emotional side to a man whose career was shaped by the women in his life: his mother; his daughter, Annie, and, above all, his beloved wife, Emma.

So we hear that Darwin began collecting things as a young boy in response to his mother’s death. Collecting, Padel tells us, can be used ‘to assert control over what is unbearable’. It is a ‘system against loss’, something that Darwin would cling to as he began to develop the theory of evolution by natural selection – and to comprehend what the survival of the fittest really meant. If ‘the fit will be preserved’, he realises with horror, it means the weak – sick children such as ten-year-old Annie – will not and cannot survive. And as Darwin’s evolutionary work developed, Padel tells us that his belief in the afterlife withered. Although Emma continues to hope ‘for reunion after death’, Darwin does not; in notes found after his death, he writes, ‘When I am dead, know I have kissed and cried over this, many times’.

Padel herself is an assured and confident reader. She knows her stuff when it comes to Darwin’s biography and demonstrates a frightening grasp of the subject matter that both fascinated and tormented the scientist (she’s a Fellow of The Zoological Society Of London, and it shows). She approves of the venue: the Museum’s mammals hall – stuffed with animals that are themselves stuffed and imprisoned within Victorian glass boxes – is a fitting setting in which to hear the words of a man who spent his life similarly collecting animals, insects, flora and fauna. And the Museum is in the midst of a Darwin ‘festival’ that marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the scientist; several times, Padel encourages us to visit the photography show that features the same South American landscape recorded in Darwin’s The Voyage Of The Beagle.

Padel rounds up by describing the reaction to Darwin’s publication of On The Origin Of Species. Within a year, she tells us, the Church Of England had accepted Darwin’s theory, with one fan even expressing delight in moving from a belief that God made the world in seven days to one where ‘God makes the world make itself’. Which is a neat way to end the reading, demonstrating just how skilled at intellectual evolution us humans are – we’re all too adept at retrofitting new ideas into old and flawed arguments.

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Susie Stubbs is the editor of creativetourist.com and also writes Travels With My Baby, which won Blog Of The Year at the 2008 Manchester Blog Awards.