Name: We Are All From Somewhere Else By Ruth Padel
SKU: 9781529112788
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We Are All From Somewhere Else Summary

We Are All From Somewhere Else: Migration and Survival in Poetry and Prose by Ruth Padel

*First published as The Mara Crossing, now with new and updated material*

'A prodigy, a book of wonders. Wonder, pity and terror, the searing section of voices in transit coercing compassion - and beyond that, empathy' Independent

Home is where you start from, but where is a swallow's real home? And what does 'native' mean if the English oak is an immigrant from Spain?

In ninety richly varied poems and illuminating prose interludes, Ruth Padel weaves science, myth, wild nature and human history to conjure a world created and sustained by migration - from the millennia-old journeys of cells, trees, birds and beasts to Geese battle raging winds over Mount Everest, lemurs skim precipices in Madagascar and wildebeest, at the climax of their epic trek from Tanzania, braving a river filled with the largest crocodiles in Africa.

Human migration has shaped civilisation but today is one of the greatest challenges the world faces. In a series of incisive portraits, Padel turns to the struggles of human displacement - the Flight into Egypt, John James Audubon emigrating to America (feeding migrant birds en route), migrant workers in Mumbai and refugees labouring over a drastically changing planet - to show how the purpose of migration, for both humans and animals, is survival.

We Are All From Somewhere Else Reviews

A vertiginous compendium, a prodigy, a book of wonders: it is Montaigne's and Darwin's 21st-century child * Independent *
A broad-ranging meditation on all things migratory...This is a book of raw interfaces and unnerving encounters. Magnificent poems... a triumph of imagistic ingenuity * Guardian *
(A) thoughtful and often quite magical mix of prose and poetry...What is just as fascinating as Padel's central theme is the insight that she also gives us into poetry, or rather, into the creation of a poem. * Independent on Sunday *
The Mara Crossing is a major meditation on migration. The prose is crystalline, the poems full of the wonderful material stuff of life. It's a poet's book to the core, a passionate exploration of her subject, proving that pressures on cells, bodies, creatures (human and other), and on the planet itself, are fit and essential matter for poetry
A glorious fabric, weaving lyricism and hard facts, poetic insight and scientific detail unwinding from the multitudinous threads of geographical migration. A beautiful, far-ranging book about physical journeys and all they might mean to humans and animals alike * Mark Cocker *
In this sweeping an unconventional book about migration, Padels commendably calls for compassion and open borders. Her poems and essays are a lyrical tribute to the instincts and whims that catalyse movement, and the trials and beauties that come with motion... there are wonders of nature in this collection which will give pause to sensitive readers * The Economist *
In an original, wonderfully imaginative series of reflections, moving between essayistic insights, condensed metaphors of poetry, mysteries of microbiology and animal or human journeys, Ruth Padel takes migration as her subject and the whole earth as her province. A thrilling, poignant, richly illuminating investigation of the energies which create life and drive history * Eva Hoffman *
Who would have thought that a poet would write about one of the most fascinating aspects of behavioural biology and human striving? A remarkable, beautifully constructed book, interleaving science and history, clear prose and evocative poems * Professor Patrick Bateson, President of the Zoological Society of London *
This book is an extraordinary mixture of poetry, prose, fact and fantasy. * Saga Magazine *
An engrossing meditation on the theme of migration...reads like a collaboration between Dorothy Wordsworth and Darwin. * Sunday Telegraph *

About Ruth Padel

Ruth Padel is a prize-winning poet, author of twelve acclaimed poetry collections and prose works including much-loved books on reading contemporary poetry, a travel-memoir on wild tiger conservation, and a study of the influence of Greek myth on rock music. Awards include a British Council Darwin Now Award, a Travel Bursary and Cholmondley Award from The Society of Authors, and First Prize in the National Poetry Competition. She is Professor of Poetry at King's College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Additional information

Sku

GOR011280932

ISBN 13

9781529112788

ISBN 10

1529112788

Title

We Are All From Somewhere Else: Migration and Survival in Poetry and Prose by Ruth Padel

Author

Ruth Padel

Condition

Used - Very Good

Binding type

Paperback

Publisher

Vintage Publishing

Year published

2020-09-15

Number of pages

304

Prizes

N/A

Cover note

Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.

Note

This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

We Are All From Somewhere Else Ruth Padel

We Are All From Somewhere Else by Ruth Padel

We Are All From Somewhere Else Summary

We Are All From Somewhere Else: Migration and Survival in Poetry and Prose by Ruth Padel

We Are All From Somewhere Else Reviews

About Ruth Padel

Additional information

Customer Reviews - We Are All From Somewhere Else