Damian Le Bas in conversation
Wednesday 30th April, 6:30pm
Under the waves, Damian enters a breathtaking world. As he masters the skills of this exhilarating sport, diving with seals in the Farne Islands, exploring submerged Roman ruins in Naples and mapping the sunken city of Port Royal, he is entranced by wonders both man-made and natural. Plato’s writings on Atlantis were a parable about the hubris of humankind; in witnessing our effects on oceans and ocean communities, Damian finds echoes of this in the modern world.
A spellbinding love letter to diving, The Drowned Places is also a profound examination of the power that myth has over us, and what happens when it crosses over into reality.
Join us in welcoming writer and filmmaker Damian Le Bas to discuss The Drowned Places, exploring the meaning we find in sunken ruins around the world and their connection to history and myth.
Damian Le Bas is a writer, filmmaker and visual artist. His book The Stopping Places won the Somerset Maughan Award, a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award, and was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Damian is widely published as a journalist and poet and has taught for the Arvon foundation. A recipient of a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, he is a member of the European Film Academy, holds a first-class degree in Theology from the University of Oxford, and was awarded an honorary Master of Education by the University of Chichester.
Besides getting in the sea, he loves music, walking, and spending time in the woods and hills with his family and friends. The Drowned Places is his second book.
The Poly, Falmouth
£8 + Poly fund
The Drowned Places: Diving in Search of Atlantis
Thousands of years ago, an island off the Straits of Gibraltar went to war with Athens. The battle was lost, and overnight the island sank beneath the waves – or so legend tells.
As a boy, Damian Le Bas was captivated by the story of Atlantis. As an adult, he dreams of diving to discover its ruins. After the death of his father, torn between his lifelong desire and the taboo Romany culture places on the ocean, he comes across a dive shop. He can’t help but go in.
Under the waves, Damian enters a breathtaking world. As he masters the skills of this exhilarating sport, diving with seals in the Farne Islands, exploring submerged Roman ruins in Naples and mapping the sunken city of Port Royal, he is entranced by wonders both man-made and natural. Plato’s writings on Atlantis were a parable about the hubris of humankind; in witnessing our effects on oceans and ocean communities, Damian finds echoes of this in the modern world.
A spellbinding love letter to diving, The Drowned Places is also a profound examination of the power that myth has over us, and what happens when it crosses over into reality.