I, Vera: Miranda Seymour in conversation with Lisa Appignanesi

Attendees are invited to visit the Hunterian Museum from 5.30-6:45pm before the talk starts.

Join acclaimed biographer Miranda Seymour in conversation with Lisa Appignanesi, writer and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature, for an evening uncovering the extraordinary life of Vera Gedroits.

A pioneering battlefield surgeon, social reformer and openly lesbian princess, Gedroits was one of the most remarkable medical figures of her time, yet her achievements and identity were deliberately erased from official histories. Drawing on her new biography, I, Vera, Miranda Seymour brings to life how Gedroits broke medical ground in the nineteenth century while navigating life as an openly lesbian woman in a deeply conservative society.

A wonderful and unputdownable book about an astonishing woman

Mel Giedroyc

Set within the atmospheric surroundings of the Lumley Library and Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, with exclusive pre-talk access to the Hunterian Museum’s extraordinary collections.

Part of the Hunterian Provocations series, this Pride Month event invites visitors to rediscover Gedorits’ legacy and consider why her life and work still matter today.

The history of an amazing woman set in the history of a continent at a time of great turmoil… a compelling read and beautifully written

Professor Dame Averil Mansfield, DBE ChM FRCS FRCP

About the Author
Miranda Seymour is an acclaimed biographer, novelist, and critic, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts. Her celebrated works include biographies of Mary Shelley, Robert Graves, and Jean Rhys, as well as the award-winning memoir In My Father’s House.