The full programme has been launched for the Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2015 (19 October – 1 November).

This year’s packed programme of events tackles a range of critical issues, including censorship, free speech, privacy, democracy and more, inspired by the theme of power and resistance. Headline speakers include many of the world’s leading thinkers and experts in their field, such as Professors Lord Martin Rees, Dominic Lieven and Rae Langton, CEO of Index on Censorship Jodie Ginsberg, authors Bidisha and Peter Hitchens, photographer Judith Aronson, and musicians Asian Dub Foundation.   

Social media and technology feature strongly, with events that examine how revolutionary movements interact with technologies such as Facebook and Twitter; issues of privacy in today’s technology-dependent society – particularly relevant in view of the recent Ashley Madison hack; and the advantages and disadvantages of computers that predict our personalities and interact with us intelligently, and the ethical questions this raises.

Talks on several new books are a key highlight of this year’s Festival. Author Bidisha and award-winning journalist Emily Dugan will be in conversation about their new books on the lives of refugees and immigrants who have made it to the UK, the books go behind the headlines to reveal the personal dramas of ordinary men and women trying to make a new life in the UK. Professor Dominic Lieven will be discussing his book, Towards the Flame: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia, which deals with Russia’s disastrous involvement in the First World War and the implications for Europe today. Paul Wallace, a leading commentator on the economics of the European Union, will also be talking about his new book, The Euro Experiment, which explains how and why the euro crisis happened, and the implications for the economic and political future of Europe. Ulinka Rublack's new book, The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler’s Defence of his Mother (due out in Oct 2015), tells the shocking story of how the mother of the famous scientist Kepler was accused of witchcraft. In conversation with Juliet Mitchell, the author explores historical resistance to women as well as ways in which families have been implicated in mechanisms of power.

Gender issues continue to be contentious and the Festival debates some of the current issues in a number of events including a panel discussion that explores the implications of trans identities for religious faith, with speaker Reverend Christina Beardsley. In addition, there will be a panel discussion about the politics of pornography and where the line should be drawn, with feminist poet Hollie McNish, David Bainbridge author of Curvology, the origins and power of female body shape,  Ian Dunt, political editor of the Erotic Review, and Professor of Philosophy, Rae Langton.

Another highlight of the Festival is the 24-hour event, ‘Arena: night and day’, starting at noon on Friday 23 October. For its 40th anniversary, the BBC arts series Arena has created a 24-hour film experience from its archive of over 600 programmes. For one day and one night Arena infiltrates Cambridge in a series of pop-up locations showing the likes of Bob Dylan, Francis Bacon, Sister Wendy, Harold Pinter, Bob Marley, T.S. Eliot and Luis Bunuel to name just a few.

“Arena is the oasis in the sea of insanity that is television”, according to the cult film director Werner Herzog. Following the filmic inundation of Cambridge by Arena: night and day, members of the team will discuss the secrets of its success and the future of public service broadcasting with Cambridge University film experts.

Malavika Anderson, the Festival Coordinator, said: “This year, our aim is to be more experimental and more provocative with the questions we are asking. People attending events will need to come along armed with an open mind and be prepared to re-examine their perceptions of the world.

“We’re also very excited that we have a totally different design for the brand and the programme. Our intention with the new design and layout is to provide a programme that is much more user friendly so that people can find the events they are interested in quickly and on the days they can attend.  The programme also has a number of feature pages, so keep an eye out for those.”

Established in 2008, Cambridge Festival of Ideas explores some of the most essential and thought-provoking ideas of our time and aims to fuel the public’s interest in arts, humanities and social sciences. Over 250 events, ranging from talks, debates and film screenings to exhibitions and comedy nights, are held in lecture halls, theatres, museums and galleries around Cambridge and entry to most is free.

The Festival sponsors and partners are Cambridge University Press, St John’s College, Anglia Ruskin University, RAND Europe, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Cambridge Live, University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden, Arts Council England, Cambridge Junction, British Science Association, Heritage Lottery Fund, Heffers, WOW Festival, Southbank Centre, Collusion, TTP Group, Goethe Institute, Index on Censorship and BBC Cambridgeshire.   

Bookings for the 2015 Festival of Ideas open on Monday 21 September.

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Members of the press should contact Becky Wieczorek on 01223 761 871 or email becky.wieczorek@admin.cam.ac.uk for more details.

Further information can also be found at: www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/cambridgefestivalofideas      

Twitter: https://twitter.com/camideasfest #cfi2015 


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