Clock Tower Stage
10:00-11:00
From White Teeth to killing Charles Dickens: Zadie Smith talks to Merve Emre about her dazzling career and first foray into historical fiction
Great Hall
10:00-11:00
Resurrection or recession: what next for the British economy?
Chair: Camilla Cavendish
Panel: Octavius Black, Ian Livingstone, Emma Walmsley
11:15-12:15
The fashion manifesto: how Gabrielle Chanel revolutionised the way women dress
Chair: Catherine Ostler
Panel: Oriole Cullen, Tristram Hunt, Justine Picardie
11:30-12:30
The metaphysical and the modern: Nick Laird and Katherine Rundell speak to Jonathan Bate about the infinite allure of poetry
12:45-13:45
Swing Time: is Labour’s election triumph inevitable?
Chair: Martin Ivens
Panel: Joanne Cash, Daniel Chandler, David Lammy, Emily Maitlis
14:00-15:00
The Imagination Muscle: how creativity can thrive in the age of AI
Chair: Yana Peel
Panel: Yonca Dervisoglu, Will Gompertz, Albert Read
14:00-15:00
The fables of Maggie O’Farrell: the author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait discusses a life in literature with Martha Kearney
15:30-16:30
War on trial: from Nuremberg to Ukraine, can international justice ever be delivered?
Chair: Jonathan Freedland
Panel: Daniel Finkelstein, Olesya Khromeychuk, Philippe Sands
15:30-16:30
The Empress of Rome: Britain’s celebrated classicist, Mary Beard, discusses bread, circuses and Caesars with Albert Read
17:00-18:00
Making history great again: The Rest is History’s Tom Holland talks to Simon Sebag Montefiore about his Roman Empire trilogy and the world’s most popular podcast
17:00-18:00
From Selfies to sculptures: one of the founders of the British contemporary art scene, the acclaimed and multi-talented Marc Quinn talks to Alice Thomson about the evolution of his art
Clock Tower Stage
10:00-11:00
Soldiers, surveillance, and secret agents: redefining the role of espionage in modern warfare
Chair: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Panel: Pauline Neville-Jones, Andrei Soldatov, Calder Walton, Alex Younger, Mikhail Zygar
Great Hall
10:00-11:00
A year in fiction: the power and practice of the modern novel
Chair: Merve Emre
Panel: Tom Crewe, Marlon James, Fatima Farheen Mirza, Hannah Rothschild
11:30-12:30
The Earth Transformed: global historian Peter Frankopan talks to Natalie Livingstone about the past and future of the planet
11:30-12:30
The fantastical universe of Marlon James: Iona McLaren talks to the Booker Prize-winning novelist
13:00-13:45
Living in a material world: Jonathan Maxwell and Ed Conway explain why the past and future of humanity is a story of resources
14:00-15:00
The deadly puzzle: how Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran and Israel are redrawing the Middle East
Chair: Peter Frankopan
Panel: Maryam Aslany, Mansoor Abulhoul, Jake Wallis Simons, Einat Wilf, Alex Younger
14:00-15:00
The world of Simon Schama: the eminent historian talks to Natalie Livingstone about his glorious career and his new book, Foreign Bodies
15:30-16:30
A study in warfare: General Petraeus and Andrew Roberts talk to Con Coughlin about the evolution of modern conflict
15:30-16:30
The Carolean question: predicting King Charles’ reign and the future of the monarchy
Chair: Robert Hardman
Panel: Ailsa Anderson, Jane Ridley, William Shawcross
17:00-18:00
Atlantic dominion: how American culture has distorted Britain’s view of itself
Chair: Anne McElvoy
Panel: Emily Benn, James Marriott, Munira Mirza, Tomiwa Owolade
17.00 – 18.00
‘We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us,’ said Churchill; the talented interior designer Flora Soames, his great-granddaughter, talks about her inherited love of making homes with her aunt, editor and writer Emma Soames
Please note that on occasion the programme and speaker list may be subject to change.