Nineteen academics from a wide range of disciplines will take part in this year’s Cambridge Series of talks at the Hay Festival, one of the most prestigious literary festivals in the world.
The history, myths and legends surrounding the last Muslim ruler in Spain – whose surrender ended seven centuries of Islam at the heart of Western Europe – is the subject of a new book and Hay Festival appearance by Cambridge academic Elizabeth Drayson.
A host of Cambridge academics, including Nobel Laureate Sir John Gurdon, will be speaking on subjects ranging from stem cell technology and Alzheimer’s to the future of North Korea and the history of conspiracy theories at this year’s Hay Festival.
Eight of the talks from the Cambridge Series from this year’s Hay Festival are now available for users to stream or download online.
Jennifer Wallace took part in the Cambridge series at this year's Hay Festival and spoke on a panel on whether tragedy is the perfect form for the modern world. She gives her impressions of the event and of the Festival itself.
Cambridge is fielding a series of talks and debates by leading academics on a range of global challenges at this year's Hay literary Festival.
Is tragedy the perfect dramatic form for our current predicament? Or has the classic idea of catharsis through viewing the suffering of others become much more problematic in an age of 24/7 news and the internet? An event at this year's Hay Festival will investigate.
Following a successful talk at Hay in 2010, Professor Paul Cartledge will be playing a major part in a series of 10 discussions on Ancient Greece at this year's festival, alongside Cambridge's own regular programme.
Is democracy up to our 21st-century problems? Will the UK ever sort out its relationship with Europe? Is tragedy the perfect form for the modern plight?
No country's legal system is made with children in mind, but that has not stopped large numbers of children from becoming involved with it. Last year alone, an astonishing 50,000 children testified in UK courts for one reason or another. Yet that reason can make a huge difference. Whether they are witnesses or suspected offenders - whether, in fact, the system views them as would-be angels or demons - dramatically affects the manner in which they are treated.
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