Gaia: Then and Now - James Harpur

During the first Covid lockdown in 2020, James Harpur pored over the extraordinary stories about St. Columba (521-597) and wrote a book of poems inspired by his life. In this talk he explores the saint not so much as a historical person but as the archetype of Poet, Pilgrim and Exile, three crucial figures in Irish culture and the country’s historical imagination. He also examines how the role of imagination exemplified in the stories about Columba has an urgent ecological and holistic relevance in today’s world.
James Harpur has published eight books of poetry, including The Oratory of Light (Wild Goose, 2021), poems inspired by St. Columba and the island of Iona. He studied Classics then English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, and has taught English on the island of Crete. His non-fiction books include The Pilgrim Journey (BlueBridge, 2015) and Love Burning in the Soul (Shambhala, 2005), a short history of Christian mystics. He was won many prizes for his poetry and is a member of Aosdána, the Irish Academy of the Arts. He lives in West Cork.

[@franescadiano]

James Harpur is one of the greatest living poets and I'm very proud of being his Italian translator.