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, on occasion, the programme and speaker list may be subject to change.