The English Department at the Festival of Ideas

Posted on 10 May 2018

Celebrate the Festival of Ideas with English academics.

Look out for Dr Alexandra Kingston-Reese in conversation with Booker-prize wining novelist Eleanor Catton and Professor Helen Smith exploring the book beautiful with artist, illustrator and author Martin Salisbury. Professor Jon Mee and Dr Mary Fairclough will introduce a night at the movies with Frankenstein, and, in an ‘electrifying’ separate event, Dr Fairclough will explore the science of the novel. Professor Mee also plays an unlikely role in an evening of performance, film and talks celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the death of Laurence Sterne.

Elsewhere in the Festival, you will find Professor Brian Cummings tracing the lasting legacy of Martin Luther and the Reformation, and their impact on our language, and Dr Richard Rowland explaining the urgent relevance of Greek drama and mythology for the present day. Dr Matthew Townend will lead the perennially popular Beer and Beowulf event, and alumnus Sophie Coulombeau will feature as one of five BBC Radio 3/AHRC New Generation Thinkers in an event commemorating the memory of our colleague and Festival co-founder, Professor Jane Moody.

There’s lots more happening in this year’s Festival, including talks and readings from renowned authors. Explore the full programme. And if you want to get a head start on the conversation, why not join The Quiet Place Book Club, our department collaboration with the Festival. This month’s book we’re reading Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology – join us, and read along with academics and students – including in the original Old Norse!