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Ruth Sophia Padel, (pronounced /pəˈdɛl/[1]) FRSL (born 1946) is a British poet, journalist and former academic. She came to prominence with a poetry column in the London Independent on Sunday, of close readings of contemporary poems; the book 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem edits together her writing there.[2] In 2009 Padel was elected Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford — the first female ever to be so elected — [3] but resigned after 9 days at the culmination of a three-week newspaper campaign which alleged her involvement in what some sources referred to as a smear campaign against Derek Walcott, her leading rival for the position.[4][5]
[edit] LifePadel is the eldest child of the psychoanalyst John Hunter Padel (a descendant of the surgeon John Hunter) and his wife Hilda Horatia Barlow, daughter of Sir (James) Alan Noel Barlow, 2nd Baronet and his wife Nora Darwin. Through her maternal grandmother she is a great-great-grand-daughter of naturalist Charles Darwin.[6] She was born in the top floor of the family house in Wimpole Street where her great-grandfather's medical practice had been located.[2][7] Padel attended the North London Collegiate School, before studying classics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.[8] After obtaining her doctorate from the University of Oxford on Greek tragedy, she taught Greek at Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London.[7] She was the first holder of the Bowra Junior Research Fellowship at Wadham College, Oxford, and thus reputedly the first female fellow of a formerly all-male Oxford college. She taught opera in the Modern Greek Department at Princeton University and myth in Buenos Aires. She lived in Greece and Crete for several years, has excavated Minoan tombs on Crete, and sang in an Istanbul nightclub[9]. Padel had "said that the pivotal moment in her career as a poet came in 1985, after her daughter Gwen was born and when her first pamphlet of poems was on the point of publication."[10] "She decided to sell her house and buy a cheaper one in Cambridge, using the difference to support herself."[10] After her first pamphlet of poems, Alibi, was published, she left academia and wrote features and reviews for newspapers including The Independent, The Times, Financial Times and The New York Times. Her short stories have also been published in the Dublin Review and Prospect Magazine. She "gave up full-time teaching to concentrate on writing poetry, with her 1990 first full-length collection, Summer Snow, drawing on her knowledge of ancient Greek history."[11]"The poetry collections that followed have seen her win the UK National Poetry Competition, with her poems widely anthologised, broadcast and shortlisted for all major British prizes."[11] She won the UK National Poetry Competition 1997 with a long poem “Icicles Round a Tree in Dumfriesshire,” based on an Andy Goldsworthy ice sculpture, and four of her seven collections have been shortlisted for the major British poetry prizes. Through the late 1990s and 2000’s, while writing a trio of poetry collections shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize, Rembrandt Would Have Loved You, Voodoo Shop and The Soho Leopard, she also wrote I’m a Man, Sex, Gods and Rock ‘n’ Roll, tracing the masculinity of rock music to Greek myth, and a travel-memoir Tigers in Red Weather, exploring front-line conservation of wild tigers in Asia, which drew on her scientific background and Darwinian descent. In 2009 she wrote Darwin - A Life in Poems, invented a new form, a mini-biography in lyric verse of her great great grandfather Charles Darwin, covering his science, travels and family life. She also held the post of Poet in Residence for the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 2002.[7] Padel has broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 on opera, music and literature, plus short stories.[7] She wrote and presented a Radio 4 series on Hans Andersen.[7] In January 2009, she was the guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.[2] On 13 May 2009 she appeared at the Swindon Festival Of Literature. Padel is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and an honorary member of the Poetry Society,[12] and has been Chair of the UK Poetry Society since 2003.[7] She is a conservationist and member of the Zoological Society of London,[2] plus a member of the Royal Geographical Society, the Bombay Natural History Society and International PEN.[7] "She has also had numerous non-fiction books to her name, covering subjects as diverse as rock music and Greek tragedy.[11] Her last book celebrated the life of Charles Darwin in verse, covering his science, travels and family life.[11] Padel is unique in being a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London."[11] Padel is currently a freelance poet and travel writer living in London.[7]From 1984 to 2000 she was married to Professor Myles Burnyeat, the classical scholar and philosopher.[13] They have a daughter called Gwen Bunyeat[14]. [edit] Appointment and resignation as Professor of PoetryOn 16 May 2009, Padel was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, after the leading candidate, Derek Walcott, withdrew his candidacy when The Sunday Times reported that photocopies of a book containing references to allegations of sexual harassment had been sent to several Oxford academics, who make up some of the electorate.[8][15]. She became the first female to be elected to the post since its inception in 1708.[15] She defeated Arvind Mehrotra, a poet from India. The allegations against Walcott came from anonymous letters and photocopied pages from The Lecherous Professor, a book containing details of a sexual assault allegation laid against him whilst he was teaching at Boston University and Harvard University in 1982 and 1996.[16][15] The story was published in the Cherwell newspaper on the weekend prior to Padel's appointment.[16] Walcott, who had previously been the favourite to win the position,[15] removed himself from the race on 12 May, stating:
In The Telegraph's report, Padel said her victory had been "poisoned by the cowardly acts" of a campaign against her rival. She denied any involvement, she also dismissed claims that she colluded with a friend and newspaper columnist to highlight Walcott’s past as "ridiculous".[16] On 24 May, however, The Times reported that Padel had earlier responded to the request of two journalists for information by mentioning the allegations of sexual harrassment in Walcott's past.[17] Though it was clear that her emails had not led to Walcott's withdrawal from the election,[18] Padel resigned on 25 May 2009.[5] Walcott, when asked for comment, stated plainly that, "Karma is not a tradition I knew as a lad, but it is something I know to exist, whether we can call it by name."[19] The Evening Standard ran a story following Padel's resignation claiming that the first of the emails concerning allegations about Walcott that led to her resignation was sent by her on 9 April to Olivia Cole of the London Evening Standard.[20] The Sunday Times later noted that there were at least two emails sent, the second on April 23 to a Sunday Times journalist. In her email, she is said to have attributed to unnamed "supporters" various comments concerning Walcott:
At a press conference on 26 May 2009, Padel said of her role in the affair, "I apologize for anything I have done which can be misconstrued as being against him.... Those emails were naive and silly of me. I do not believe it was wrong, but it was a bad error of judgment."[21] Not all media commentators saw this apology in a favourable light, however; Zoe Williams, writing in The Guardian, said Padel "doesn't sound at all academic; she sounds like a posh Vicky Pollard".[22] When asked if she would encourage Derek Walcott to stand again for the position, she replied, "Yes, if he wants ... I think he'd do good lectures."[23] [edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] References
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