- David Goldberg – This is Not the Way: Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel Watershed 24 April 2012 18.00-20.30
- John McCarthy – You Can’t Hide the Sun: A Journey Through Palestine St George’s Bristol 15 May 2012, 18.00-19.00
- Julia Neuberger – Is That All There Is? Watershed, 16 May 2012, 19.30-20.30
- Tariq Ramadan – The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East Arnolfini 17 May 2012, 16.30-17.30
- Elif Shafak – Identity, Immigration and Multiculturalism Watershed 17 May 2012, 19.30-20.30
- Bidisha and Selma Dabbagh – Palestine Now Watershed, 19 May 2012, 14.00-15.00
- Paul Mason – The New Global Revolutions Arnolfini 20 May 2012, 15.30-16.30
The Bristol Festival of Ideas aims to stimulate people’s minds and passions with an inspiring programme of discussion and debate throughout the year. The Bristol Festival of Ideas is an initiative of Bristol Creative Projects – BCP – (formerly Bristol Cultural Development Partnership): Arts Council England, Bristol City Council and GWE BusinessWest.
David Goldberg – This is Not the Way: Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel
Few subjects invoke such passion as the history and current situation of Jews in Western societies. David Goldberg, a progressive rabbi with many years’ experience of dealing with other faiths and other Jews, takes the most difficult issues of this fraught relationship and confronts them head on. Forthright, challenging and witty, his presentation and new book will spark debate and criticism in equal measure. Rabbi Dr David J Goldberg OBE is minister emeritus of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London. He is the author and editor of several books, including Aspects of Liberal Judaism (2004), The Divided Self: Israel and the Jewish Psyche Today (2006) and This is Not the Way: Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel (2012). Visit his website at www.rabbidavidjgoldberg.com.
John McCarthy – You Can’t Hide the Sun: A Journey Through Palestine
St George’s Bristol 15 May 2012, 18.00-19.00
Fascinated as a young boy by his father’s tales of Palestine, John McCarthy was always drawn to the mesmerising region of the Middle East. But exotic enchantment is all too often matched by the brutal reality of political complexity, as McCarthy discovered at great personal cost: he was kidnapped and held hostage by political militants in Lebanon for five years. Despite this terrifying ordeal, McCarthy remained determined to one day return and discover more about this world. From the shores of the Mediterranean to the Bedouin encampments of the Negev desert, McCarthy travels through Israel and East Jerusalem to discover the history that shrouds the bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His encounters with the ordinary people of this beautiful, tragic land reveal an often hidden side to the region’s history: the experience of those Palestinians who remained in Israel after its formation in 1948 – and who became Israeli citizens. In You Can’t Hide the Sun, drawing on extensive eye-witness interviews and on his own experiences, McCarthy tells the other side of the story of the founding of Israel, and considers the essential question – how can humanity endure under great oppression? Price: £8.00 / £6.50. Contact St George’s Bristol on: 0845 40 24 001, book online, or visit in person. www.ideasfestival.co.uk
Julia Neuberger – Is That All There Is?
Watershed, 16 May 2012, 19.30-20.30
In her insightful new book, Is That All There Is?: Thoughts on the Meaning of Life and Leaving a Legacy, Rabbi Julia Neuberger (Crossbench peer, social commentator and writer, one of the first two female rabbis in the UK and now Chief Rabbi of West London Synagogue) considers what it is that makes life worthwhile. Drawing upon her considerable experience as a religious leader and social reformer passionately concerned with the issues that affect society’s wellbeing, she offers practical ways to give our own lives a renewed sense of significance and direction. From celebrating friends and family, to surviving hardship and loss, to assessing the relative value of possessions, and the benefits of being as tough as we are kind to ourselves, Julia Neuberger shows how to reconnect with the things that really matter to us. It is, she explains, possible to live a life with few regrets, in which we get our priorities right and create a legacy which will live on long after we are gone – yet which will make life all the more rewarding here and now. Price: £7.00 / £6.00. Contact Watershed, Bristol on: 0117 927 5100, book online, or visit in person. www.ideasfestival.co.uk
Tariq Ramadan – The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East
Arnolfini 17 May 2012, 16.30-17.30
In The Arab Awakening Tariq Ramadan explores the opportunities and challenges across North Africa and the Middle East, as they look to create new, more open societies. Arguing that the debate cannot be reduced to a confrontation between the modern and secular and the traditional and Islamic, Ramadan demonstrates that not only are both of these routes in crisis, but that the Arab world has an historic opportunity: to stop blaming the West, to jettison its victim status and to create a truly new dynamic. Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford, visiting Professor at Erasmus University, and President of the think tank European Muslim Network. His books include Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, The Quest for Meaning: Developing a Philosophy of Pluralism and The Arab Awakening: Islam and the Middle East. Price: £7.00 / £6.00. Contact Arnolfini, Bristol on: 0117 917 2300, book online, or visit in person. www.ideasfestival.co.uk
Elif Shafak – Identity, Immigration and Multiculturalism
Watershed 17 May 2012, 19.30-20.30
Elif Shafak, acclaimed bestselling author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Forty Rules of Love, and the most widely read female novelist in Turkey, talks about the politics of immigration, fiction and identity in her recent work, including The Happiness of Blond People, a personal essay on immigration and multiculturalism, and her new book, Honour, set partly in London about a half-Kurdish, half-Turkish immigrant family. The event is chaired by Anita Sethi. Price: £7.00 / £6.00. Contact Watershed, Bristol on: 0117 927 5100, book online, or visit in person. Full details of all festival events at www.ideasfestival.co.uk
Bidisha and Selma Dabbagh – Palestine Now
Watershed, 19 May 2012, 14.00-15.00
Selma Dabbagh is a British Palestinian writer whose novel, Out of It, is a gripping tale of dispossession and belonging, treachery and loyalty, endurance and bravery that re-defines Palestine and its people. She discusses Palestine with critic and broadcaster Bidisha, who toured the West Bank as a reporter in Spring 2011 and whose new book, Beyond the Wall: Writing a Path Through Palestine, is a sharp, unflinching portrait of life in the West Bank in the twenty-first century, seen through the eyes of its activists, ordinary citizens, children, population of international aid workers and foreign visitors. Price: £7.00 / £6.00. Contact Watershed, Bristol on: 0117 927 5100, book online, or visit in person. www.ideasfestival.co.uk
Paul Mason – The New Global Revolutions
Arnolfini 20 May 2012, 15.30-16.30
In his compelling new book, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions, Newsnight presenter Paul Mason sets out to explore the causes and consequences of the current wave of revolt, illuminating the links between the economic and social crisis. Mingling with protestors in locations from Westminster to Wisconsin, he reports from the frontlines of protest, arguing that the events of 2011 reflect the expanding power of the individual and a call for new political alternatives. Price: £7.00 / £6.00. Contact Arnolfini, Bristol on: 0117 917 2300, book online, or visit in person. www.ideasfestival.co.uk