2013 Programme: Festival weekend overview

The Festival weekend includes more than 70 debates which are listed below ordered by time slot and room. To see Saturday or Sunday sessions only, select the day you want from the menu on the left or select sessions by Theme.

Or view and print out the Timetable as a two-page PDF.

Saturday 19 October: 10.30am-12.00pm
School Fights Frobisher 1-3
Arts in schools: luxury or necessity?
Literature Wars Hammerson Room
To read or not to read? The Canon and the 21st century
Saturday 19 October: 1.30pm-3.00pm
School Fights Frobisher 1-3
One to one tuition in the dock? The crisis in music schools
Literature Wars Hammerson Room
Historical fiction: good literature, bad history?
Pop Ups Library
'Only words': do lyrics matter?
Saturday 19 October: 3.30pm-5.00pm
Literature Wars Hammerson Room
The art of biography
Saturday 19 October: 5.30pm-6.45pm
Thought for the day Cinema 1
Listening to music: a private or public activity?
Literature Wars Hammerson Room
Graphic novels: literature for the 21st century?
Balloon Debate Camera Café
What's the best film ever? Balloon debate
Sunday 20 October: 9.30am-10.15am
Artistic Battles Garden Room
Taking the rap: hip hop, R&B and social responsibility
Sunday 20 October: 10.30am-12.00pm
Artistic Battles Garden Room
Digital creativity: can we all be composers now?
Sunday 20 October: 12.15pm-1.15pm
Contemporary Controversies Frobisher 1-3
Is cheating ruining sport?
Artistic Battles Garden Room
Is public art an insult to the public?
Sunday 20 October: 1.30pm-3.00pm
Artistic Battles Garden Room
Pop Art: all mouth, no trousers?
Sunday 20 October: 3.30pm-4.45pm
Artistic Battles Garden Room
What is it to be cultured?
Sunday 20 October: 5.15pm-6.15pm
Artistic Battles Garden Room
From Medici to Saatchi: should art collections be public?
Hot off the Press 2013 Hammerson Room
Special UK audio book launch and discussion 'The Gala Concert, Verdi/Wagner 200 years'
Sunday 20 October: 6.30pm-7.30pm
Plenary Barbican Theatre
Great Books

The IPCC: can we trust the evidence?

"The rules of the game at The Battle of Ideas makes beating about the bush impossible. When you are given 5 minutes to make your point, you either say something essential, or you reveal that you have nothing really to say. This eliminates 'the unbearable lightness' of speculation that haunts public debate."
Albena Azmanova, social philosopher, political commentator and activist

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