There are over 120 events as part of the York Festival of Ideas, many of which are free to attend. Many events, while free, require a ticket - see individual events for details.
Discovering ancient Greece
Saturday
29
June
2013
How and why do we know what we know about ancient Greece? Historian and TV presenter, Michael C Scott, follows the lives of the people in the 17th to 21st centuries who put ancient Greece quite literally back on the map, and who have shaped the legacy that ancient Greece still holds in our society today.
Fabulous Fictional Females
Saturday
29
June
2013
Four literary experts - Wendy Moore, Heidi Thomas, Bharat Tandon and John Bowen - will each stand as an advocate for one of four classic novels written by women: Cranford, Emma, Belinda and Jane Eyre. Following their debate, the audience will be asked to vote on which novel they think has the most long-lasting legacy.
British Library literature online
Saturday
29
June
2013
In 2014 the British Library is launching a major new web portal entitled English Online. The site will provide a rich digital research environment for English literature students, using primary source material to shed light on the social, political and cultural contexts in which key literary works were written. Focusing on the 19th century, this digital exhibition will showcase a number of artefacts that will appear on the site, including manuscripts, diaries, etiquette manuals, and juvenilia. The exhibition will be accompanied by a talk given by Professor John Bowen and members of the British Library Learning team.
Faber Academy: How to get published
Saturday
29
June
2013
From the grand old publishing houses through to self-publishing on Amazon, never before have there been so many options open to new writers wanting to publish their first novel. Richard Skinner will discuss the pros and cons of these options. He will also discuss how to write synopses, pitches and letters to agents.
Passions and parsonages
Saturday
29
June
2013
For many, the archetypal Georgian rectory beside an ancient church evokes a scene from Jane Austen. For others it conjures up something much darker and elemental, such as the parsonage on the Yorkshire Moors where the Brontë sisters led such confined yet creative lives. Editor of Emma, Bharat Tandon; Charmian Knight of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and Deborah Alun-Jones author of The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory will discuss how these environments nurtered creativity.
3Graces: Victorian women, visual art and exchange
Saturday
29
June
2013
Victorian women artists’ works are often omitted from accounts of 19th-century art, leaving an incomplete and damaged picture of artistic developments. This virtual exhibition, and related talks, offers a rare opportunity to engage with Victorian women artists’ paintings, sculptures, textiles and costume designs together, and in relation to, works by their male counterparts.
North and South: The legacy of Elizabeth Gaskell
Saturday
29
June
2013
Hear an exploration of the life and works of Elizabeth Gaskell by the President of the Gaskell Society, Shirley Foster, and dramatist Heidi Thomas, who adapted Cranford for the BBC.
3Graces: Victorian women, visual art and exchange
Saturday
29
June
2013
Victorian women artists’ works are often omitted from accounts of 19th-century art, leaving an incomplete and damaged picture of artistic developments. This virtual exhibition, and related talks, offers a rare opportunity to engage with Victorian women artists’ paintings, sculptures, textiles and costume designs together, and in relation to, works by their male counterparts.
Seeking perfection: The quest for an ideal woman
Saturday
29
June
2013
Thomas Day was a poet, a philanthropist and a radical activist – he campaigned against slavery and supported independence for America – with one major peculiarity. While still in his teens he fixed his sights on marrying his notion of a perfect woman and when he could not find her in Georgian society he set out to create her. Find out more about his ambition and its outcome in this talk by Wendy Moore.
Faber Academy: From idea to first draft
Saturday
29
June
2013
Where do ideas for novels come from? And how do we ensure we make it to the end of a first draft? Using plenty of examples and writing exercises, Richard Skinner will discuss and explore ways of creating ideas, how to plan your novel and how to complete a first draft.
Grace and Mary: A new novel by Melvyn Bragg
Friday
28
June
2013
Join the writer and TV presenter Melvyn Bragg as he talks about his new novel, Grace and Mary. In the novel, John visits his ageing mother Mary in her nursing home by the sea, and mourns the slow fading of her mind. Hoping to shore up her memory, he prompts her with songs, photographs and questions about the 1940s, when she was a young woman and he a child in a small Cumbrian town.
Ayanna
Friday
28
June
2013
The first non-American to win the legendary Amateur Night Live at the Harlem Apollo, British vocalist, cellist and composer, Ayanna – a pioneer of Black folk music – is paving the way with her beguiling vocals which skip and swing over the intimate, honey-sweet cello.
The history of food in 100 recipes
Friday
28
June
2013
One of Britain’s best food writers and editor of the award-winning Waitrose Kitchen magazine, William Sitwell celebrates the great dishes, culinary techniques and chefs over the centuries. His journey takes him from the earliest bread recipe in Ancient Egypt, through the greatest party planner of the Middle Ages and on to the history of the roast dinner.
In conversation: The voices of servants
Friday
28
June
2013
Discover the social history of the last century through the eyes of those who served. From the butler, the maid and the cook of 1900 to the au pairs, cleaners and childminders who took their place seventy years later, author Lucy Lethbridge will bring to life the voices of servants and domestic staff, largely ignored by history.
The Sitwells
Friday
28
June
2013
William Sitwell, great-nephew of Dame Edith Sitwell, gives a talk on his illustrious forebears. During a witty history of his family, he’ll discuss the impact that they had on the literary scene of the 20th century and investigate the family’s unique links with Scarborough.
Who's on top? Flipping the map in contemporary fiction
Friday
28
June
2013
Novelist Maggie Gee looks at how settled ideas of a rich, powerful North and a poor, fecund South are overturned in some contemporary novels, from her The Ice People, a future fiction where the onset of global cooling sends south-north economic migration into reverse, to the destabilising fictions of Hisham Matar and Selma Dabbagh, where the old South/North distinctions no longer work because the characters are in perpetual, restless motion.
Owenvarragh: A Belfast circus on "The Star Factory"
Thursday
27
June
2013
A new realisation of John Cage's 1979 score "Roaratorio, an Irish Circus on Finnegan's Wake", Ciaran Carson's wonderful elegy to Belfast, The Star Factory, performed as a circus of sound, words, and images, featuring live recitation by Professor Carson, recordings and images of places and sounds from the book, and music from Belfast's traditional musicians.
Grim Tales: How literature has demonised the north of England
Thursday
27
June
2013
Writing about the north of England has for years woefully concentrated on the bleak and dour. This is one of the themes of True North, a book by Northern Editor of The Guardian, Martin Wainwright. In this talk he shows that where authors have achieved a balanced, contextual description of the North, their good work has been undone by critics, the media and others via the selection only of the glum side. Wainwright presents a contrary image and argues that it is important to do so if the present, shameful, imbalance between northern and metropolitan England is to put right, as it must be.
Longmont Chorale
Thursday
27
June
2013
If you are looking for some culture during your lunch break, the Longmont Chorale, a community choir from Colorado, would like to invite you to their lunchtime performance at St Helen's Church. The choir will be singing a mixed repertoire from John Rutter's Angel's Carol to Sting's Fields of Gold.
Servants: A downstairs view of 20th century-Britain
Thursday
27
June
2013
Discover the social history of the last century through the eyes of those who served. From the butler, the maid and the cook of 1900 to the au pairs, cleaners and childminders who took their place seventy years later, author Lucy Lethbridge will bring to life the voices of servants and domestic staff, largely ignored by history. This presentation will include a delicious Cream Tea, which includes home-made scones, jam and cream.
A reading by Seamus Heaney
Wednesday
26
June
2013
An exclusive and rare opportunity to hear Irish poet and Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, read from a selection of his poetry.
The YorkshiresDNA project
Wednesday
26
June
2013
Hidden in our DNA are the origins of our lineages, when and where they first arose and the immense journey our ancestors took to reach Britain’s shores. Join Alistair Moffat as he reveals the rich mosaic of ancient lineages found so far, with some very interesting results for Yorkshire.
Austin Wright, dryads and the lure of the North
Wednesday
26
June
2013
The career of York-based sculptor Austin Wright (1911–1997) is said to have been limited by his decision to live and work in the North of England rather than court favour in the South. One of his works, Dryad (1984), situated by Heslington Hall, will provide a focus for a discussion around the importance of place and the pull of the metropolis as defining factors in how artists develop their ideas and reputations.
North v South: England’s Health Divide
Wednesday
26
June
2013
The North-South divide is one of England’s most powerful and enduring myths: an ancient and indelible line separating the country politically and culturally into beautiful South and grim North. Tim Doran of the University of York discusses the reality of the divide and its effect on peoples’ lives and health.
Ireland: North and South
Wednesday
26
June
2013
A panel of experts, comprising Lucy Caldwell, Eamonn Hughes, Margaret Kelleher and Keith Ridgway will debate the polarity of Ireland, revealing the nuances of North and South in an Irish context.
North and South: Gaskell vs today
Tuesday
25
June
2013
Scenes from Elizabeth Gaskell’s "North and South" and contemporary times, read by local actors, will stimulate a discussion a discussion lead by Helen Shay which will look particularly at the issues which may have affected, and continue to affect, women.
Grand challenges for engineering and architecture
Tuesday
25
June
2013
Panel discussion on the global grand challenges for technology, architecture and design with contributions from Andy Hopper (IET), Leo Hollis, Paul Newby (Shepherd Group), Martin Mayfield (Arup), Rodric Yates (IBM) and Bill Price (WSP).
Computing for the future of the planet
Tuesday
25
June
2013
Digital technology is becoming an indispensable and crucial component of our lives, society, and environment. Andy Hopper, President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, will explore the framework for computing in the context of problems facing the planet will be presented. The framework has a number of goals: an optimal digital infrastructure, sensing and optimising with a global world model, reliably predicting and reacting to our environment, and digital alternatives to physical activities.
Practical industrial examples will be given as well as research goals.
Minster of Mystery
Tuesday
25
June
2013
Join us to find out how recent excavations beneath the cathedral have developed ideas based on earlier archaeological work. Ian Milstead, Field Officer at YAT, who directed the recent excavations at York Minster, will reveal new evidence of York's landscape before the Minster was built.
The place of high-rise in historic cities
Tuesday
25
June
2013
The Shard in London is the tallest building in Europe. Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano the structural design for the building was provided by WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering and design consultancies. Bill Price from WSP will talk about the place of high-rise buildings in historic cities and the engineering challenges faced, drawing from experience of The Shard in London and Ground Zero in New York.
Cities are good for you
Tuesday
25
June
2013
Over 50% of the world’s population now live in urban centres and over the coming decades it will increase. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Blending anecdote, fact and first-hand encounters - including exploring the slums of Mumbai, visiting roof-top farms in Brooklyn, and attending secret dinner parties in Paris – author Leo Hollis reveals that we have misunderstood how cities work for too long.
From South to North: A vocal pi
Monday
24
June
2013
David Howard (presenter of BBC4 TV's "Voice" and "Castrato” programmes) with members of the Audio Research Laboratory at the University of York and singing friends, takes us on a journey ‘from South to North’ exploring our voices from lungs to head! The acoustics of the NCEM will be altered during our journey and our singers will be spread out around the audience to ‘bake’ a special vocal π for your listening pleasure.
Deep underground science at Boulby Mine – the search for dark matter and beyond...
Monday
24
June
2013
Observations of the night sky suggest there is much more matter out there that we cannot see, ‘Dark Matter’ - the missing mass in the universe - and the race is on to find out exactly what it is. For more than a decade UK astrophysicists have been operating experiments in a dedicated 'low background' facility at Boulby potash mine. Find out more about the experiments taking place there from Dr Sean Paling of the University of Sheffield
Hearing the York Mystery Plays
Monday
24
June
2013
We know that the York Mystery Plays were performed on wagons thoughout the city, but we have very little information on staging or stage directions. Marianna Lopez reveals what acoustic measurement techniques can tell us about the performance spaces of the plays.
Beryl Bainbridge: Artist, Writer, Friend
Monday
24
June
2013
Whilst Beryl Bainbridge is extremely well known and respected as a writer, she is hardly known as a painter. Author, Psiche Hughes, will talk of Beryl’s painting, and how it interlinked with her writing and her life. She will draw upon her very close friendship with Beryl Bainbridge for over 35 years.
Fair shares for all? Black market Britain, 1940-54
Monday
24
June
2013
Between 1940 and 1954 Britons lived with food rationing. As a result, many consumers’ diets became less varied. The quality, if not the quantity, of what they ate deteriorated also. While food rationing reduced health inequalities with a noticeable impact on baby boomers’ health, it did little for public morale. Cravings for meat, poultry and fresh eggs in particular, created demand for black market foods that unscrupulous businesses and criminal entrepreneurs readily exploited. In this lecture the historian Mark Roodhouse, author of Black Market Britain: 1939-1955, reveals how these illegal markets in rationed foods worked, highlighting parallels with today’s illicit trade in horsemeat.
ZRI - Brahms and the Gypsy
Sunday
23
June
2013
ZRI – the Red Hedgehog Tavern – where Brahms used to go and hear gypsy musicians play in Vienna – has inspired a re-imagining of his famous Op.115 clarinet quintet, re-scoring it with accordion and santouri (a type of cymbalom) for the rich gypsy flair that so inspired the original. ZRI weave the passionate sounds of klezmer and Hungarian music into the structure of the quintet, placing this classical masterpiece firmly in the context of the gritty tavern music that Brahms loved to hear.
Richard III: History's man and Shakespeare's villain
Sunday
23
June
2013
What do we know about the real Richard III, and how has he provided such wonderful material for tales of villainy to subsequent ages? Historians Chris Skidmore and Mark Ormrod reveal more about Richard III the historical figure and his relationship with York; with the help of actor Nick Armfield, Shakespearean and film expert Judith Buchanan considers a history of performances of Shakespeare's Richard on stage and screen.
The Dam Busters (U)
Sunday
23
June
2013
In World War II, Dr Barnes Wallis created a revolutionary bouncing bomb to destroy the Ruhr dams and paralyse Germany’s industrial heartland. The 1955 film, starring Michael Redgrave, describes the development of the bouncing bomb and the efforts of the 617 Squadron to carry out the audacious attack. Featuring a spectacular climax, this is one of the finest and most-loved war films of its period.
Slavery on Film: Exposure or Exploitation?
Sunday
23
June
2013
Most forms of modern slavery occur far from the public gaze. Slavery takes place in a secretive world, physically out of view, denied by slave owners, and with documented evidence that the victims of slavery are subject to threats and worse. So how is it possible to film such vulnerable people - many of them children as young as seven or eight - without making their lives even more dangerous? David Hickman talks about three films he shot and directed - on child slavery on Haiti, bonded slaves in Pakistan and bride trafficking in India - and how he attempted to negotiate some of the profoundly difficult ethical dilemmas in telling slaves` stories.
York Sunday Politics Show
Sunday
23
June
2013
Leading commentators Greg Dyke (Chairman of the Football Association) and Peter Hitchens (Author and Columnist at the Mail on Sunday) will debate topical issues, with an opportunity for audience input. The event will be chaired by Steve Richards (Chief Political Commentator, The Independent).
Jacobean comedy workshop
Saturday
22
June
2013
To coincide with The Dutch Courtesan, theatre director Tom Wright explores the challenges of staging Jacobean comedy in this fun and practical workshop. Tom will use techniques drawing from mask, clowning and commedia del arte to explore the skills needed to play a trickster on stage. Open to all.
Think global, act local: Art and social value
Saturday
22
June
2013
What is the relationship between art and social value? Robert Teed and Paula Jackson examine the capacity of art as a vehicle for social change, as an advocacy tool for human rights, and in a relational sense as a means of developing the self. Beginning with case studies from the New School House Gallery, the presentation extends to ask how art can engage communities and change societies for the better.
Cracking animation: An audience with Peter Lord CBE
Saturday
22
June
2013
Film producer, and co-founder of Aardman Animations, Peter Lord, will be interviewed by Judith Buchanan on film production, the history of animation, winning an Oscar, his plans for the future and more…
Sound workshop
Saturday
22
June
2013
Want the chance to put your own spin on an Aardman Animation classic? Record your own dialogue and sound effects in our fabulously equipped sound lab to scenes from The Wrong Trousers and The Pirates! Band of Misfits, then mix them like the pros using our industry standard software and equipment.
Storytelling - Tales from Yorkshire
Saturday
22
June
2013
Artefacts on display in the Yorkshire Museum are brought to life through stories written by University of York students. Inspired by three exhibitions at the Museum, these stories will explore York’s Anglo Saxon heritage, the life of the Mesolithic site at Star Carr, and the life and adventures of Tempest Anderson.
Making the Chocolate City
Saturday
22
June
2013
Learn how to make the products that made York the Chocolate City, visit the Lord Mayor’s kitchen to discover the ingredients and recipes that sweetened York's story as it developed from a Medieval trading city to become the home of the world's most famous chocolate bars.
Science out of the lab
Saturday
22
June
2013
Come along to this hands-on interactive event which explores the treatment and prevention of a range of chronic diseases and disorders that affect people of all ages. This is an opportunity to talk face-to-face with scientists who work to prevent and cure disease to develop an understanding about the various dimensions of chronic diseases and disorders – scientifically and historically.
University of York Jazz Orchestra
Friday
21
June
2013
The Jazz Orchestra's summer concert with Mark Bassey on trombone features the music of Ensemble Quintessence, Chile's most popular contemporary jazz ensemble. It includes a musical response by Ricardo Alvarez to the colourful festival of the Feast of La Tirana in northern Chile.
The longest and most dangerous of all chronic diseases
Friday
21
June
2013
Which disease did French clinician Gaspard-Laurant Bayle refer to in his lectures to the Paris Medical Faculty in 1809/10 as “the longest and most dangerous of all chronic diseases"? Surprisingly for us, Bayle was describing pulmonary tuberculosis. In this talk, author Helen Bynum uses the experiences of three tuberculous patients Tobias Smollett (1721-71), John Keats (1795-1821) and George Orwell (1903-1950) to explore pulmonary tuberculosis as a chronic disease of the past and reflect on its modern face. Get ready for tales of travel and confinement to bed, bloodletting and bloody sputum, and not enough happy endings.
21st-century diet: Healthy fast food?
Friday
21
June
2013
Nutritionist Mike Lean and Technical Director for Quorn Foods Tim Finnegan discuss different approaches to good health through healthy eating. Find out more about the nutritionally balanced pizza and how it came about, and the role that Quorn has to play in health, the environment and protein security.
Jacobean theatre now
Friday
21
June
2013
Setting the stage for the evening performance, leading theatre critic Michael Billington discusses Jacobean plays on the contemporary stage with Dutch Courtesan director Mike Cordner.
University Choir and Symphony Orchestra concert
Thursday
20
June
2013
Verdi’s great Missa da Requiem completed in 1874 is probably the best-known setting of the text. Hans von Bülow famously described it as ‘an opera in ecclesiastical dress’. A true vocal concert piece of the nineteenth-century tradition it is truly a requiem writ grand; it is filled with splendid horror, perhaps the most exhilarating of emotions, and as a result plays out as something which is much more than easy listening.
Barnes Wallis: His life and work
Thursday
20
June
2013
Barnes Wallis’ reputation suffers from being dominated by the ‘bouncing bomb’, but there was much more to his inventive mind. Peter Rix from the Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust will cover some of Barnes Wallis’ most significant inventions and will try to give some insight into what sort of man he was.
In praise of Eric Bloodaxe: Viking poetry from York
Thursday
20
June
2013
Eric Bloodaxe was the last, and most famous, Viking king of York, driven out and killed in 954. He is also the only Viking king of York for whom we possess Norse poetry composed in his honour. Enjoy a goblet of mead as Dr Matthew Townend explores this unique northern poetry to see what we can learn about kingship and culture in Viking Age York.
What has the North ever done for social policy - then and now?
Thursday
20
June
2013
The famous York-born social reformer, Seebohm Rowntree, was an early contributor to social policy in the North of England. Important contemporary contributions are still being made to the development of social policy through the work of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Find out more about the role of the North in social policy.
Polar science: History, modern research and film-making
Thursday
20
June
2013
Scientists have long looked to the Polar regions to find answers to complex global questions, but what conclusions did they reach? What is the reality of Antarctic research today? And how easy is it to explain this to the viewing public in programmes such as Frozen Planet? Polar experts and an academic advisor to the BBC series discuss.
Exploring the Poles: Above, in and below the snow
Thursday
20
June
2013
The Polar regions are a rich resource for science. Join three scientists, from York and the British Antarctic Survey, whose research takes place above, in and below the snow, to explore climate change, microbes and life in Antarctic sub-glacial lakes.
Dick Turpin in reality and myth: South, North and North again
Wednesday
19
June
2013
Despite the associations which the city of York has built with him, Dick Turpin, who was executed at York in April 1739, was born in Essex, and came north under an assumed name when things got too hot for him in the London area. Join historian Jim Sharpe as he explores the life and subsequent legend of this famous highwayman.
‘King of all Britain’: New light on King Athelstan
Wednesday
19
June
2013
When Alfred the Great’s grandson, Athelstan, occupied York in 927 he became the first king of all the English. In a talk richly illustrated from the king’s own manuscripts, and a clip from a new TV documentary, the historian Michael Wood offers some clues towards an Anglo-Saxon royal biography with a special focus on the king’s relations with the Northumbrians-and a new Yorkshire location for the ‘Great War’ of the tenth century, the Battle of Brunanburh.
The North Began: How Lloyd George solved the Irish problem
Wednesday
19
June
2013
The core of the Irish problem since 1886 was the Ulster issue. Lloyd George had always supported excluding Unionist Ulster from Dublin’s domination but postponed addressing this until 1919, and by then the 1918 election had led to Sinn Féin’s displacing the Home Rule Party. His response was the Government of Ireland Act 1920 which gave the Ulster Unionists what they wanted: a monopoly of government in what became Northern Ireland.
Orienteering event
Wednesday
19
June
2013
Everyone is welcome at this informal evening event whether beginner or expert. You will receive a large-scale map of Brayton Barff and have to navigate around a course of about two-miles in length – it will (should) take you less than an hour and you will receive a finishing time. Bring a compass and wear outdoor clothing.
York's Awkward Angles
Tuesday
18
June
2013
What happened in York between the decline of the Roman city and the arrival of the Viking raiders? Archaeology can tell us – and new discoveries are provoking new thinking about the rebirth of this historic town.
Writing on the edge
Tuesday
18
June
2013
A two-hour workshop, open to all, which will explore the notion of edges: the borders of conscious/unconscious, the shoreline, space, urban/rural, the edges of lands and bodies. Abi Curtis and JT Welsch, writers and lecturers on the York St John Creative Writing programme, will facilitate discussion and writing exercises.
Brian Sewell in conversation
Tuesday
18
June
2013
Author and art critic, Brian Sewell, talks about his life and his thoughts on English contemporary art in conversation with James Boaden from the University’s History of Art Department.
A history of the world in twelve maps
Monday
17
June
2013
Throughout history maps have helped to shape our view of the world and our place in it. But, as author and TV presenter Jerry Brotton demonstrates, world maps are unavoidably ideological and subjective and reflect the ideas of their age - whether the Jerusalem-centred Christian perspective of the 14th-century Hereford Mappa Mundi or the Peters projection of the 1970s which aimed to give due weight to the 'third world'.
The Synod of Whitby (664) and its ramifications in Northumbria
Monday
17
June
2013
The seventh century was a crucial period for the formation of the Christian kingdom of Northumbria. The second half of that century was also a period of controversy, although that is partially masked by Bede's account. In this lecture we will be exploring the significant issues at stake that lay behind the seemingly arcane debate about whether Irish/British or Continental Easter practice should be followed. These issues had a bearing on such important topics as the relationship of Deira to Bernicia and the creation of a unified kingdom of Northumbria, and on the question of whether or not continuity with the Christianity of the Irish missionaries and continuing British communities should be pursued, and what the repercussions were.
Identity, Romanisation and regionality in Roman Britain
Monday
17
June
2013
What did the Romans ever do for the North? By examining the spread of coinage and coin use, the nature and persistence of Iron-Age tribal exchange systems, and the presence and role of the army, Barry Crump will consider the prospect of a North-South divide in Roman Britain.
Accent the positive?
Monday
17
June
2013
The way people speak tells a lot about their origins–geographical and social. But when someone can only speak with the aid of an artificial voice, then conventional expectations are subverted. Speakers, Alistair Edwards, and Christopher Newell will explore some of the limitations–and new possibilities–of speech technology. Their talk will be accompanied by a number of interactive exhibits on which people will be able to experience the technology in practice.
The histories of nations
Monday
17
June
2013
Why write the history of the world? Many attempts have been made by western scholars to create order from the chaos of the past. Maybe there are other ways of doing it. Author and former Editor of History Today, Peter Furtado, explores the options in this thought-provoking talk.
Art out of crisis: A play from the Theresienstadt Ghetto
Sunday
16
June
2013
The UK premiere of The Smoke of Home, a play written in the World War II Jewish Ghetto at Theresienstadt, forms the centerpiece of an afternoon of engagement with the question: in times of crisis, why do some societies respond with art?
The Historic Atlas of York: 2,000 Years of Urban Development
Sunday
16
June
2013
The Historic Atlas of York, now nearing completion, will trace the urban development of York from Roman times to the present, identifying every street and named structure accompanied by a sheaf of illustrations and reproductions of early maps.
BBC Radio 3 - Free Thinking: England's other Civil War
Sunday
16
June
2013
Free Thinking is BBC Radio 3’s hugely popular festival of ideas, and this summer, they're taking events across the UK. In the year that Richard III's remains were identified beneath a Leicester car par, Free Thinking will be in York, the seat of his power, to debate how the Wars of the Roses shaped the country from the 15th century right up to the present day.
BBC Radio 3 - Free Thinking: Ethical business
Sunday
16
June
2013
Radio 3’s Rana Mitter will be asking a panel of business people, economists and historians if ethical business is affordable today, or whether wealth creation itself is really the ethical action.
Eborienteers Club Championships
Sunday
16
June
2013
Everyone is welcome at the Club Championships whether beginner or expert. Have a go at navigating around a two-mile course on Clifton Backies Nature Reserve – it will (should) take you less than an hour and you will receive a finishing time. Bring a compass and wear outdoor clothing.
The 24: Festival of Nations
Saturday
15
June
2013
This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the creation of the Edict of Milan (Edict of Tolerance) by Constantine the Great. Constantine was born in Niš and crowned Emperor in York some 30 years later. As part of this anniversary, "the 24" presents music from across Europe and beyond, including works linking Serbia with the UK, in celebrarion of tolerance - religious and otherwise.
Living up North
Saturday
15
June
2013
An exploration of living in the North. Judith O’Reilly, author of "Wife in the North", recounts one woman’s attempt to move her family and her life from cosmopolitan London to rural Northumberland; while journalist Paul Morley, author of "The North (and almost everything in it)" explores what it means to be northern, and why those who consider themselves to be so, believe it so strongly.
Granta, Great Young British Novelists 2013
Saturday
15
June
2013
For three consecutive decades, Granta has foreseen the brilliant careers of the British literary scene, showcasing an array of talent. Join us as three of these stellar Great Young British Novelists from the 2013 list talk about their new novels and their experiences: Jenni Fagan The Panopticon, Kamila Shamsie Burnt Shadows, and Ross Raisin, God’s Own Country.
New writers session three
Saturday
15
June
2013
Join writers Claire King (The Night Rainbow), Abigail Tarttelin (Golden Boy) and Leonie Frieda (The Deadly Sisterhood) to hear reading from their works, and an opportunity to ask them about their interests and careers and how they got published.
Festival Fringe family fun afternoon
Saturday
15
June
2013
An afternoon of fun activities for the community - suitable for children and their parents - led by postgraduate students from the University of York.
New writers session two
Saturday
15
June
2013
Join New Writers Kate Worsley (She Rises), D W Wilson (Ballistics), and Matthew Reynolds (The World Was All Before Them) for a reading from their debut novels, and an opportunity to ask them about their works and how they got published.
Renaissance Reincarnations on the Page
Saturday
15
June
2013
This event explores how Renaissance afterlives are created in Historical Fiction and Biography
Open to all, ‘Renaissance Reincarnations on the Page’ on Saturday, 15 June at St William’s College, offers a chance to hear Germaine Greer and Robert Hutchinson as they discuss the process of re-creating early modern personalities for a modern audience.
New writers session one
Saturday
15
June
2013
Join New Writers Susie Steiner (Homecoming), Elizabeth Day (Home Fires), and Gavin Weston (Harmattan) for a reading from their debut novels, and an opportunity to ask them about their works and how they got published.
Chemistry, collections and conservation
Saturday
15
June
2013
Join curators and learning staff at the Yorkshire Museum to find out why an understanding of chemistry is essential to caring for their internationally significant natural science collections. See examples of conservation, good and bad, and learn about the effects of the environment on the specimens.
Puffin Peter
Saturday
15
June
2013
Come along to a workshop based on the Kate Greenaway shortlisted book Puffin Peter. Hear some stories from author and illustrator Petr Horacek and then have a go at creating your very own little picture book about a puffin! Suitable for 4 to 7 year olds.
Progressive capitalism
Friday
14
June
2013
In an interview with David Goodhart, "Prospect" magazine, Lord Sainsbury of Turville looks at why the growth rates of countries differ, what firms have to do to achieve competitive advantage in today’s global economy and how the new, progressive political economy, which is replacing progressive capitalism, can be used by politicians and policymakers to produce a programme of economic reform for a country.
Climate change: Does it all add up?
Friday
14
June
2013
Chris Budd will take a light hearted view of the many issues concerned with predicting climate change, and (using audience participation) will look at the strengths and weaknesses of various climate models and what they tell us about the future of the Earth's climate.
Managing finance: For the common good
Friday
14
June
2013
The recent expansion of the financial sector has been fuelled by financial engineering and communications technology resulting in systemic instability and an increase in system complexity. Mark Buchanan gives a brief snapshot of research inspired by physics which identifies key areas where regulation could help avoid market instabilities and let finance play a productive role for the larger economy.
The York Helmet: Biography of an iconic object
Friday
14
June
2013
The York helmet is perhaps York’s most well-known Anglian object, but what do we really know about it? This talk uncovers how, through its examination and conservation, the fascinating story of the helmet, from its manufacture in the 8th century to its discovery in 1982, was pieced together.
Two-speed Britain - myth or reality?
Friday
14
June
2013
Panel debate, featuring Danny Dorling, Kate Pickett, Martin Vander Weyer, Stephen Lee and Bob Doherty. Chaired by Peter Smith.
North - South: from divide to chasm
Friday
14
June
2013
The North/South divide opened up again in the 1980s. Throughout the 1990s we knew the divide was growing. In the 2000s policies planned to narrow economic and social fortunes were not enough to stop the gulf growing even greater, but all that appears of only historical interest as compared to events since May 2010. This lecture tells a story of where we have come from and offers several suggestions as to where we may be going in Britain as Scotland prepares to decide whether to stay and as the geographical divides between us in England and Wales deepen.
Music as architecture
Thursday
13
June
2013
Join the students of the University of York Creative Performance Project, directed by Ambrose Field, as they unveil an evening soundscape of music, performance and video giving a usual musical perspective on York’s famous historic architecture.
North, South, East and West and civilisation
Thursday
13
June
2013
In his groundbreaking exploration of the progress of human history, Peter Watson identifies how the the development of humankind in the ‘old’ and ‘new’ worlds-between 15,000 BC and 1,500 AD-has been shaped by geography.
Mesolithic deep-time line
Thursday
13
June
2013
Complementing the Festival's launch lecture by Peter Watson, this exhibition will use a time-line to explore the concepts of time depth and the deep past's relationship to the present. It will address questions such as 'what does 15,000 years really mean in human terms?' and 'How can we truly comprehend the distant, and sometimes alien, worlds that our ancestors experienced?'.
