Talks

The Romans who shaped Britain

Saturday 30 June 2012

Roman Britain was created not by impersonal historical forces, but by men and women, each driven by ambition, aspiration and passion. The lecture explores the narrative of Britannia through the lives of its emperors, commanders, governors, officials and rebels.

Heritage cities public debate

Saturday 30 June 2012

Public debate on the conflict between heritage cities, cutting edge architecture and economicand cultural development

King's Cross regeneration project

Saturday 30 June 2012

A discussion on regeneration projects with particular reference to the recent King's Cross regeneration.

My Horrible Life

Saturday 30 June 2012

Author of the Horrible Science series, Nick Arnold, talks about his life and work

The wonder of home? Which places have it and what can architecture contribute?

Saturday 30 June 2012

A panel of experts will debate the question: The wonder of home? Which places have it and what can architecture contribute?.

Why we build

Saturday 30 June 2012

A provocative and brilliant examination of what inspires great architecture and how buildings can change your life.

Jennifer Johnston

Friday 29 June 2012

Interview and reading from her new work

Meet the Scientists ... who mummified Alan

Friday 29 June 2012

In this Meet the Scientist event, members of the public will have an opportunity to meet the scientists behind the Channel 4’s award-winning documentary Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret.

Cracking the Egyptian Code

Friday 29 June 2012

Andrew Robinson reveals a gripping tale of a race to unlock the secrets of a great but neglected civilization

Capital - John Lanchester in interview with Will Gompertz

Thursday 28 June 2012

Author John Lanchester in conversation with Will Gompertz (BBC)

High Society: Mind-altering drugs in history and culture

Thursday 28 June 2012

Mike Jay speaks about his book, High Society, tracing how today’s illicit substances have come to play such a simultaneously fetishized and demonized role in the modern world

Structural crisis of the capitalist world-system: How serious? How long? Endpoint?

Thursday 28 June 2012

Professor Immanuel Wallerstein (Yale) places the current crisis within a historical and sociological understanding of the capitalist world system

To be a cat

Thursday 28 June 2012

Local author Matt Haig talks about his book 'To be a cat'

The City of London

Thursday 28 June 2012

Sir Nicholas Kenyon (Barbican, London) celebrates the wide variety of architecture found within the Square Mile

Never again? Lessons and legacies of the financial crisis

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Financial markets debate with Martin Vander Weyer (chair), Tim Burt, Peter Spencer, and Gervais Williams.

The changing face of public relations

Wednesday 27 June 2012

How corporations and their advisers are dealing with a new era of scrutiny

The Mind of the Fraudster

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Martin Vander Weyer talks about 1920s City of London fraudster Gerard Lee Bevan — a financier of impeccable credentials who went to the bad when markets turned against him

The perils and potential of an ageing society, with Julia Unwin, Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Ageing debate alongside Lewis Walpert and David Bainbridge

Zomblogalypse

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Three survivors. One flat. Lots of zombies. Screening of the Zomblogalypse feature film

Middle Age – A Natural History

Tuesday 26 June 2012

David Bainbridge discusses his new and acclaimed book Middle Age - A Natural History

You're looking very well: The surprising nature of getting old

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Lewis Wolpert, acclaimed scientist and broadcaster, investigates a topic close to all our hearts - why must we age and how should we cope with our physical decline?

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

Monday 25 June 2012

Oliver Burkeman talks on his book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

The inner secrets of the universe

Monday 25 June 2012

The story of elementary particle physics with Professor F K Loebinger.

The search for the lost emperor Ashoka

Monday 25 June 2012

Charles Allen reveals how India’s greatest emperor was lost to history for two thousand years and how he was rediscovered

Monsters and supernatural metamorphoses

Sunday 24 June 2012

Join Jonathan Ferguson and Bob Savage from Leeds Royal Armouries Museum and Gavin Baddeley in the weird o’ wonderful world of monsters and supernatural metamorphoses

Word Power: Speaking against death in the Arabian Nights

Saturday 23 June 2012

Author Marina Warner explores the magical powers of Arabian Nights

New writer readings/in conversation pieces: Session III

Saturday 23 June 2012

The last of three sessions with Geoff Wall in conversation with new writers: Kathleen McMahon, Essie Fox and Sophie Coulombeau.

Faber Academy Creative Writing III

Saturday 23 June 2012

The third of three one-hour creative writing workshops hosted by Faber Academy, led by novelist and head of Faber & Faber New Writing Academy, Richard Skinner. An opportunity to receive tuition on a focused, practical writing course.

Business of play writing

Saturday 23 June 2012

Playwright Richard Bean and Royal Court Literary Manager, Chris Campbell, talk about writing for the theatre in a session chaired by Professor Mike Cordner.

New writer readings/in conversation pieces: Session II

Saturday 23 June 2012

Readings and conversation with authors Adharanand Finn and Oliver Balch

Faber Academy Creative Writing II

Saturday 23 June 2012

The second of three one-hour creative writing workshops hosted by Faber Academy, led by novelist and head of Faber & Faber New Writing Academy, Richard Skinner. An opportunity to receive tuition on a focused, practical writing course.

New writer readings/in conversation pieces: Session I

Saturday 23 June 2012

Readings and conversation with authors Chibundu Onuzo, Noo Saro Wiwa and Katherine Rundell.

Faber Academy Creative Writing I

Saturday 23 June 2012

The first of three one-hour creative writing workshops hosted by Faber Academy, led by novelist and head of Faber & Faber New Writing Academy, Richard Skinner. An opportunity to receive tuition on a focused, practical writing course.

Ovid and After

Friday 22 June 2012

Professors Judith Buchanan and Hugh Haughton discuss how the lively and strange tales of Ovid’s Metamorphoses find their way into the thought and character of many later literary works

The science of love and betrayal

Friday 22 June 2012

Robin Dunbar explores the extraordinary nature of romantic love - from the frontline of cutting-edge scientific research. Basing his arguments on new and experimental scientific research, Dunbar explores the psychology and ethology of romantic love and how our evolutionary programming still affects our behaviour.

My Big Cats Journal and other adventures

Friday 22 June 2012

Bestselling photographer Steve Bloom takes us on a journey through his Big Cat Journal

Jung Chang

Thursday 21 June 2012

Best-selling author Jung Chang

Like a Virgin: Exploring the frontiers of conception

Thursday 21 June 2012

Dr Aarathi Prasad shares the history of inconceivable ideas about conception.

Prison Fictions and Writing Imprisonment

Thursday 21 June 2012

Exploring a variety of approaches to writing about incarceration and the experience of imprisonment from a range of different perspectives

How to Fly a Plane!

Thursday 21 June 2012

Author, Nick Barnard explores how to fly a plane

Walking the ancient landscapes of Britain

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Philip Hughes gives an illustrated talk on his book of ancient walks from Orkney to Cornwall

I Am Tim

Wednesday 20 June 2012

I Am Tim screening

Great Discoveries in Medicine

Wednesday 20 June 2012

William and Helen Bynum give an account of the evolution of medical knowledge and practice from ancient Egypt, India and China to today’s latest technology

Global and local transformation: The impact of conflict abroad and at home

Wednesday 20 June 2012

How conflict transforms lives Panel and Q&A Session on the impact of war and conflict abroad and at home

How conflict transforms lives

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Interactive student debate on the Kony video

Why Dickens?

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and John Bowen discuss the popularity of Dickens.

Viva la Revolution!

Monday 18 June 2012

Historian Derry Nairn will present his new book Viva La Revolution!

Re-writing royal power in medieval and Tudor England

Monday 18 June 2012

Professor Mark Ormrod and Dr John Cooper discuss how we reconstruct the careers and characters of historical figures

A reading by historian and author Alison Weir

Sunday 17 June 2012

The historian and novelist, Alison Weir, will read from her new novel, Mary Boleyn, The Great and Infamous Whore/Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings.

Rock and Roll Politics

Sunday 17 June 2012

Steve Richards, Chief Political Commentator at The Independent will host a dynamic discussion, with special guests Helen Boaden, BBC News Group Director and Alex Preston, author.

Flesh & Stone: A talk by Jane McAdam Freud

Saturday 16 June 2012

Sculptor Jane McAdam Freud talks about the inspiration behind her sculpture at her exhibition in the New School House Gallery.

Anthony Horowitz in conversation

Saturday 16 June 2012

Author, Anthony Horowitz, will discuss his writing in conversation with the University of York's Director of the Humanities Research Centre, Professor Judith Buchanan.

Making great TV

Saturday 16 June 2012

A hands on masterclass, hosted by alumna Denise O’Donoghue (Managing Director at ITV Studios) and special guests in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television.

The great debate: university funding

Saturday 16 June 2012

Hosted by the University of York Debating Society, get your views heard debate one of this year’s most discussed topics.

The wonders of social media

Saturday 16 June 2012

Making social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, work for you.

The social value of public organisations

Friday 15 June 2012

The Jane Moody Memorial Event

Where it all began: The Big Bang

Thursday 14 June 2012

Professor Carlos Frenk will open this year's York Festival of Ideas with a talk on the biggest metamorphosis of all - that of the universe as a whole, from the simplicity of the Big Bang to the complexity of the universe of galaxies, stars, and the planet on which we live.

Seeing Mary

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Dr Maunder from York St John University investigates apparitions of the Virgin Mary

Then and now: Viewing the transatlantic slave trade over forty years

Tuesday 12 June 2012

In this lecture, Professor James Walvin will explain how our understanding of the Transatlantic slave trade has undergone a remarkable change over the last forty years in response to political and cultural transformations in Western society.

Enchanted everyday spiritualities

Monday 11 June 2012

Dr Sara Mackian from The Open University explores everyday spirituality provided by mediums, psychics and tarot readers