The best talks happening in London and online

How To Academy: Pandora Sykes in conversation with Hadley Freeman

Hear journalist and co-host of The High Low podcast Pandora Sykes discuss her first book, a collection of essays titled How Do We Know We’re Doing it Right?, with The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman. Touching on everything from fast fashion to millennial angst, the book is an interrogation of the myths and strictures that dictate modern life.

Price: £5 (or £14.99 including book)

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Sophie Heawood and Dolly Alderton discuss The Hungover Games

To celebrate the launch of her debut book The Hungover Games, Vogue and Guardian journalist Sophie Heawood is speaking to fellow author and journalist Dolly Alderton about the inspiration for her memoir, which follows her from partying in Hollywood to bringing up a baby in east London. The event is being hosted in collaboration with Penguin Live and all tickets come with a copy of The Hungover Games.

Price: £16.56

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Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 Shortlist readings

2020 marks the 25th year of the Women’s Prize for Fiction – the ceremony for which has been pushed back from June to September because of the coronavirus outbreak. This event at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall is a chance to hear those shortlisted for the prize – authors Angie Cruz, Bernardine Evaristo, Natalie Haynes, Hilary Mantel, Maggie O’Farrell and Jenny Offill – read excerpts from their works.

Price: £15 - £25

An evening with Bryony Gordon

Hear from author, journalist and mental health campaigner Bryony Gordon as she speaks candidly to the How To Academy’s Hannah MacInnes about her journey from addiction to self-acceptance, friendship and love. In this livestreamed conversation, Gordon will open up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs, explaining why hitting rock bottom saved her life.

Price: £5 (or £16.50 incuding a copy of the book)

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Literature Matters: Stephen Fry and Meera Syal

In this talk, Royal Society of Literature fellows Stephen Fry and Meera Syal discuss their writing across forms – from comedy to poetry and works produced independently as well as in collaboration – that has elevated them each to the status of national treasure.

Price: £26 (£13 concessions)

Candice Brathwaite: I Am Not Your Baby Mother

Hear from I Am Not Your Baby Mother author Candice Brathwaite in what promises to be a thought-provoking, urgent and inspiring discussion on life as a black mother. Brathwaite started blogging about motherhood and the ways it lacked diverse representation in the media back in 2016, before going on to found Make Motherhood Diverse – an online initiative that aims to encourage a more accurately representative and diverse depiction of motherhood in the media. Through humour and refreshingly straight-talking style, Brathwaite provides a much-needed insight into what it’s like to be a black mother today.

Price: £12

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Lost Lectures: Our National Treasure, Our NHS

In this rousing and timely talk, Dr Sundeep Grewal discusses the foundations upon which the NHS was built – an institution that he, like many other doctors, have committed their lives to uphold. Using his own experiences as examples, Dr Grewal argues that industrial action is the only way we can protect the NHS and that it’s on us, the public, to stand side by side with doctors to ultimately safeguard its future.

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Tate: Dolly Alderton on Monet and the Thames

Part of the Tate’s Walks of Art podcast series, this episode sees journalist and author Dolly Alderton wander along the Thames, exploring its hidden depths and the ways in which it has inspired artists through the ages. From Monet's obsession with British fog, to Turner's romantic depictions of the river, the Thames has inspired many artists for years. Alderton interviews curators, historians and cartoonists to uncover how artists have changed the way we see the river.

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Photo London: Adam Fuss in conversation with Sir Antony Gormley

Hear photographer Adam Fuss in conversation with sculptor Sir Antony Gormley as the two British artists discuss their varying practices. Fuss uses cameraless techniques, relying on the most basic infrastructure of photography: objects, light and light-sensitive material, to create his images. Gormley, meanwhile, is best known for his public figurative sculpture.

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Lessons of Covid-19 in the Climate Crisis: David Wallace-Wells

Climate-change activist and deputy editor of New York Magazine David Wallace-Wells was meant to give a talk at the Southbank Centre in April, reflecting on his book The Uninhabitable Earth. While the talk was cancelled, you can still hear from Wallace-Wells as he speaks to broadcaster Samira Ahmed via video link, discussing the even more prescient topic of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its effects on the climate crisis. The talk is in partnership with Penguin Books UK and Cambridge Literary Festival.

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Director Rufus Norris and adapter Helen Edmundson on Small Island

Hear from the National Theatre’s artistic director Rufus Norris and adapter Helen Edmundson as they reflect on their production of Small Island. An adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel, the show is due to return to the National Theatre this autumn, following a sell-out run and rave reviews in 2019. The talk is being chaired by BBC Arts & Entertainment correspondent Brenda Emmanus.

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Holly Corfield Carr: a fly’s-eye view of Among the Trees

The Southbank Centre’s Among the Trees exhibition is closed for now, but you can join writer Holly Corfield Carr on an audio walk through the woods, looking at trees through a fly’s eyes and listening to whether a yellow leaf is louder than a green one. In this podcast, Carr considers artworks by Giuseppe Penone, Robert Smithson, Roxy Paine and Mariele Neudecker, and interweaves her own words with poems by Vahni Capildeo, Emily Dickinson, Sasha Dugdale and Alice Oswald.

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Serpentine Galleries & Studio Formafantasma: Antenna Fantasma

Cambio is an ongoing investigation conducted by Studio Formafantasma into the extraction, production and distribution of wood products, commissioned by Serpentine Galleries. Exploring the ideas and collaborations behind Cambio, Studio Formafantasma is hosting a weekly conversation series, Antenna Fantasma, to keep the conversation going while we’re in lockdown.

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Tate: The Art of Love

From passion to heartbreak, how has romance been expressed through art? Such is the topic of The Art of Love, which sees author and journalist Raven Smith explore how the various experiences of love have been expressed through art. You’ll also hear from assistant curator Michael Raymond, poet Shareefa Energy, artist Sunil Gupta and writer Elise Bell as they chat about their thoughts and experience of love in art.

Tate: Emma Gannon on Barbara Hepworth and St Ives

Another talk that’s part of the Tate’s Walks of Art series, writer and broadcaster Emma Gannon explores why Cornwall’s St Ives has held such an appeal to artists for over a century. Tune in to join Gannon in finding out what brought these like-minded creatives to the coastal town.

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Fortunately… with Fi and Jane: LIVE, Southbank Centre

If you love listening to BBC presenters Jane Garvey and Fi Glover muse over everyday shenanigans in their weekly podcast Fortunately, this is your chance to step behind the scenes. The duo are recording a live episode at the Southbank Centre. Together with a very special guest, the witty pair promise to take mid-life by its elasticated waist – right before your eyes – and give it a brisk going-over with a stiff brush.

Price: £15 - £35

Adam Buxton, Southbank Centre

Join comedian and podcast host Adam Buxton to celebrate the publication of his Ramble Book, a funny and poignant memoir covering everything from wet dreams and confrontations on trains to the death of his father. The talk is a chance to hear Buxton delve into further detail about his new book and various other anecdotes along the way.

Price: £18 - £25

Clothes… and Other Things That Matter, Conway Hall

Join former editor of British Vogue Alexandra Shulman as she explores the meaning we attach to different articles of clothing, from the bra to the bikini, the trench coat to trainers, the slip dress to the suit. How does our wardrobe intersect with the career ladder, motherhood, failure, romance and more? Shulman is in conversation with journalist and podcast host Hannah MacInnes, mixing personal memories with observation and fashion history to uncover how the clothes we wear mirror the lives we lead.

Price: £30 - £40

Richard Dawkins on the meaning of life, Logan Hall

The How To Academy is hosting an exclusive talk with the hugely influential scientist Richard Dawkins. From his books including The Selfish Gene to The Blind Watchmaker, to his coining of the word ‘meme’, Dawkins is a truly public intellectual whose ideas have proven extraordinarily influential both within his own discipline and beyond. In conversation with the academy’s Hannah MacInnes, Dawkins shares his reflections on the most important and puzzling topic of all: the meaning of life.

Price: £35

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