Battle of Ideas 2015
Festival weekend: Arts & Culture

Fuller details of sessions are available where the title is in bold.

Saturday 17 October: 10.00-11.30
Arts & Society Garden Room
Is poetry for everyone?
Saturday 17 October: 12.00-13.00
Arts & Society Garden Room
Attention please! Art in a hyperactive age
Contemporary Controversies Free Stage
Why does Shakespeare matter?
Saturday 17 October: 13.10-13.50
Festival Attractions Garden Room
How to read a poem
Hot Off the Press Free Stage
Book launch - 'Style: In defence of...'
Saturday 17 October: 14.00-15.30
Growing Pains Frobisher 1-3
'Fostered alike by beauty and fear': should children’s literature comfort or unsettle?
Artistic Freedom Cinema 2
The Birth of a Nation: more than racism on film?
Arts & Society Garden Room
A dying art? The future of opera
Saturday 17 October: 16.00-17.15
Artistic Freedom Cinema 2
Artistic expression: where should we draw the line?
Arts & Society Garden Room
From blockbusters to selfie sticks: are crowds ruining culture?
Saturday 17 October: 17.30-18.45
Arts & Society Garden Room
From Islamic State to Oxford: a monumental war on the past?
Sunday 18 October: 12.00-13.15
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
From literature to Twitter: the death of the reader?
Sunday 18 October: 13.10-13.50
Festival Attractions Garden Room
How to listen to a symphony

Judge rule: is the law taking over politics?

"Although 'battle' suggests destruction, these were some of the most constructive debates I've taken part in. This was civilised conflict in the best sense of both words."
Julian Baggini, author, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind, and The Ego Trick

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