Direct descendent of Charles Darwin to give talk in Plymouth
It has been organised by the Plymouth Athenaeum, where the British naturalist spent time ahead of his voyage of discovery aboard HMS Beagle
Nearly 200 years after his stay in Plymouth ahead of his voyage of discovery aboard HMS Beagle, a direct descendant of Charles Darwin is giving a talk in the city today.
Emma Darwin is an author of historical fiction, creative non-fiction, novels and short stories - most recently she wrote about her family's less told stories.
Titled 'This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin', the novel takes the reader on a writer's journey through the Darwin-Wedgwood-Galton clan, as seen through the lens of Emma's struggle.
Emma tells us that when she started writing the book about her family, she just couldn't get it right:
"My patient agent read draft after draft and I couldn't get it right, and it got more and more stressful and difficult.
"My confidence in being any good as a writer began to plummet, and I actually ended up getting quite ill for a while, and eventually I just had to give up.
"It was out of that experience that my book I then did publish 'This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin', which is a journey through my family and the story of me trying to write about them.
"I wanted to evoke what it feels like to write a novel, because it's hard and it's messy."
Emma adds that it was very 'exposing': "As a novelist, you have a mask and with 'This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin', this was me coming out from behind the scenery and saying this is really what happened to me - and that was hard to do.
"I was also worried because normally when you're promoting your books, what you're having to do is kind of weave a golden glow of great success and excitement - and so to actually kind of burst that bubble and say it was hard was not easy.
"But the number of people who came up to me and said that it had really spoken to them about about failure; about things that don't work out; about trying your best and it not working. I did feel that I was actually very glad that I got that out and maybe started some conversations that we probably should have more."
Emma Darwin - Author
The event - 'This is Not a Talk About Charles Darwin' - takes place at City College Plymouth this evening and has been organised by the Plymouth Athenaeum, where Charles spent time preparing ahead of his journey on HMS Beagle in 1831.
The great scientist calibrated equipment in The Athenaeum’s garden and attended a lecture by Snow Harris. He later became a member of the Society.
Patrick Holden - a Trustee of the Athenaeum - said: "He spent about two months in Plymouth while waiting to prepare for the voyage and also got involved with what was then called the Plymouth Institution - that's now the Plymouth Athenaeum.
"Back then, there were hardly any universities. There was Oxbridge, some in Scotland and institutions like the Plymouth Institution had been set up in 1812 to promote knowledge and learning and the kind of thing that university does now to an extent."
Patrick tells us that it Darwin's visit adds to the city's strong heritage:
"I suppose it's the best example of what we try to do in terms of promoting knowledge, supporting people doing research, and disseminate and educating the wider community.
"For Plymouth more generally, it's one of the claims to fame like the Mayflower, in terms of the famous voyages that set sail from Plymouth."
Patrick Holden - Plymouth Athenaeum
Tonight's talk gets underway at 7.30pm and is free to enter. You can find more information here.