Philip Marsden:

Under a Metal Sky 

In conversation with Colin Midson

6pm, 28th February at The Poly​​ £8, £6 concs

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Philip Marsden is one of the most acclaimed writers living and writing in Cornwall today. His celebrated book The Levelling Sea provided a definitive history of Falmouth while also exploring wider questions about the sea and its place in history and imagination. 

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Philip’s new book, Under A Metal Sky begins and ends in Cornwall, and finds him turning his gaze to the potent and tempting resources beneath our feet, materials that have long invoked wonder and amazement but have also spawned greed and destruction.

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Beginning with an investigation of the extraordinary geological character of our own peninsula, he then heads off on a journey across Europe, through the peat-rich Dutch lowlands, to German castles and Czech radium spas to the gold-bearing mountains of Georgia. At the same time he reveals a startling history 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.

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In conversation with Falmouth Book Festival director Colin Midson, Philip will be reflecting on his experience of writing the book and sharing some of the extraordinary stories that he uncovered along the way.

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