Between 1900 and 1950, Britain amassed a huge collection of over 800 historic buildings, monuments and sites and opened them to the public – a programme that established a modern state on deep historical and rural foundations.
The poetry champion, force behind National Poetry Day and founder of the Forward Prize introduces his prescription poems clinic – connecting festival-goers with poems to heal and sustain them.
Many people consider freedom of expression as a universal right that must not be compromised. In an age of cultural relativism and complex relations between religion, culture and the state, what is the right way to move forward on this debate? Three international heavyweights, Baroness Helena Kennedy (UK), Fawaz Traboulsi (Lebanon) and Hanif Kureishi (UK) discuss with John Kampfner.
Event in English
Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko is an epic tale of identity and survival and love, set across four generations of a Korean family in Japan. Julianne Pachico’s stories collected as The Lucky Ones explore the riveting lives and stories of a huge range of people caught up in the violence of Colombia’s guerrilla insurgencies. They talk to Lena de Casparis of Elle magazine.
Lyrical, haunting and exquisitely rendered, Samson’s second novel The Kindness explores a deception that comes wrapped as a gift, a betrayal clothed in kindness, and asks if we can ever truly trust another. The result is an unforgettable story of love, grief, betrayal and reconciliation, masterfully plotted and beautifully told. In Hamer’s The Girl in the Red Coat Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children’s festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. The authors talk to Georgina Godwin.
Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. Trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group. Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities. Chaired by Georgina Godwin.
From planetary exploration and micro-sensors to tropical disease and psychosis, two Royal Society Research Fellows discuss their work at the forefront of science. Lowe’s research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine involves understanding how environmental and socio-economic factors interact to determine the risk of disease transmission. Modinos’ work at King’s College London attempts to understand the neural mechanisms of emotion and stress response in schizophrenia. Chaired by Hannah Critchlow.
From the humble caterpillar to mighty elephants, animals have innate ability to forage for plant and mineral extracts, in order to look after their own emotional and physical health. If, however, an animal’s environment is devoid of these substances you can enrich their lives by offering many of these extracts for self-selection.
Jilla explores friendships unravelling and ravelling as old university friends set out on a Kalahari journey in The Art of Unpacking your Life. Graham, the concierge of Watson’s novel Hotel Alpha, has been behind the front desk since the day the hotel opened and has witnessed every stage of its history. Chaz, the founder’s blind adopted son, has almost never ventured outside its walls. Both of them view the Alpha as their sanctuary, the place that gives them everything they need. But both of them must now accept that the Alpha no longer offers them the life they most want…
Join Dylan Jones, author and award-winning editor of GQ magazine, and Guto Harri, former BBC Chief Political Correspondent, Communications Director for Mayor of London Boris Johnson, and now Communications Director for News UK, in a special Q&A on their career insights, experiences and advice for entering the world of journalism.
For students aged 16–18 years
Novels by authors well-known from TV have been remarkably well received by readers. Apart from the authors’ fame as journalists and news readers on different channels, their forays into fiction have brought a new flavour to the literary scene. Fiction written by people who compile and convey news stories day after day contains dreams and stories that are worth taking a look at. What does journalism bring to literature? Marta Fernández and Sandra Barneda talk to Inés Martín Rodrigo and Jesús García Calero.
Produced live by the IE School of Communication Medialab team and broadcast via live streaming on the culture section of www.abc.es