Quay Words presents Philip Marsden: Under a Metal Sky

About

We are thrilled to welcome award-winning author Philip Marsden to Quay Words this June for an evening discussing his latest book, Under a Metal Sky.

About Under a Metal Sky
The discovery of minerals beneath our feet has transformed our species. Ochre first prompted humans to express themselves in art; tin and copper helped instigate the Bronze Age and later the Industrial Revolution; silver kick-started the engines of global trade. Each of these substances generated a leap forward in technology, each one opened the imagination a little further and each one brought with it a cache of unexpected dangers.

Under A Metal Sky begins and ends in Philip Marsdens homeland of Cornwall, one of the worlds great geological hotspots. Travelling eastwards into Europe, he examines how the extraction of peat propelled the Netherlands to world prominence but also imperilled its very existence. Continuing on up the Rhine by barge, into the heart of the continent, he uncovers more stories of potent and tempting resources, from iron-rich meteorites to radium and mercury, and the gold-bearing mountains of Georgia. At the same time he explores precious seams of ideas, from science to alchemy, mysticism to ecology and those questing souls who pursued them, like Paracelsus, the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, Goethe, William Blake and Marie Curie.

Rich with revelations, Under A Metal Sky traces the dazzling achievements and dark consequences of our ability to extract what we want from the earth, and presents a fascinating new perspective on European history and on our troubled relationship with the natural world.

About Philip Marsden
Philip Marsden is the award-winning author of a number of works of non-fiction, history and fiction. Recent books include The Levelling Sea - about Falmouth and the influence of the sea on individuals and national history, Rising Ground which examines the power of certain sites to generate story, and The Summer Isles, an account of sailing single-handed up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland in search of mythical islands. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and his work has been translated into more than fifteen languages. Living on a small farm in Cornwall, he is actively involved in both marine and terrestrial conservation.
Image credit: Lewis Jefferies

This event will be in-person at Exeter Custom House. You can find out more about the accessibility of the Custom House here [https://quaywords.org.uk/about/access/]. If you have any access needs youd like to discuss with us before the event you can contact us on quaywords@literatureworks.org.uk. We can offer free carer tickets if you need help to support you to attend.