While TED talks are a chance to hear from some of the world’s most influential figures and learn about a wealth of different topics, many of London's finest cultural institutions host live and virtual talks, featuring some of today's best thinkers and creatives as special guests.
Here, we round up the most exciting talks happening in London and online.
Journalist, novelist and the brains and voice behind the How to Fail podcast Elizabeth Day comes to WOW - Women of the World Festival to discuss the highs, lows, loves and failures of her yet-to-be-announced special guests. Settle in for an afternoon of frank conversation.
Price: £18 - £38
The release in 2020 of Netflix’s limited documentary series Pretend It’s A City earned author and outspoken New Yorker Fran Lebowitz a whole new audience. Made with Martin Scrosese as a follow-up to his 2010 non-fiction film Public Speaking, Pretend It’s A City sees Lebowitz bemoan everything from tourists to people walking head down on their phones, offering audiences her signature brand of gruff, insightful social commentary. In this talk at the Barbican, Lebowitz will touch on everything from her move to New York in the 70s to writing for Andy Warhole’s Interview magazine.
Price: £30.90 - £40.90
Stanley Tucci’s life is delicious – on screen and off. In this live event, the Italian-American actor (The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games) and cocktail maestro tells his tales to journalist and author Elizabeth Day. Look forward to humorous anecdotes on Tucci’s growing up in Westchester, NY, falling in love over dinner and working with Meryl Streep.
Price: £40 - £51.20 (includes a copy of the book)
If dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, its successful TV adaptation, or literary sequel The Testaments left you with any burning questions, now’s the time to ask author Margaret Atwood just what went on inside The Republic of Gilead. Expect the Booker prize-winning author to touch on everything from feminism to freedom, the dangers of technology to the joys of storytelling.
Price: £20 - £45
Head into space with Tim Peake, as the astronaut recalls his out-of-this-world adventures. In 2015, Peake became the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station - running a marathon while he was there. Speaking at the Barbican Centre, Peake will pepper his talk with awe-inspiring photos and never-before-seen footage, bringing audiences that bit closer to his mission.
Price: £29 - £49
Painter, sculptor and leading contemporary artist Maggi Hambling shares her perspectives on figurative painter Francis Bacon, in light of his current retrospective at the RA: Francis Bacon: Man and Beast. Joining Hambling for the discussion is Yale Center for British Art representative Courtney J. Martin.
Price: £8/£5 concessions
Creator, producer and host of This American Life Ira Glass shares fascinating insights on how he turned his passion for learning and knowledge-sharing into one of the most popular radio shows and podcasts on the air today. In this talk at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Glass speaks candidly about his failures as well as successes in a lifetime of storytelling.
Price: £46+
Part of the Dance Reflections festival by Van Cleef & Arpels, this panel talk at Tate Modern thrusts American choreographer Trisha Brown’s 1983 dance ‘Set and Reset’ under the spotlight. Chaired by Tate curator Catherine Wood, the talk brings together Rambert’s Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer and Associate Artistic Director of Trisha Brown Dance Company Carolyn Lucas to discuss how a museum can collect, present and activate dance history. The talk is paired with live performances of Set and Reset, also at Tate Modern.
Price: £12/£8 concessions
He might be a Turner prize-winning artist, BAFTA-winning TV presenter and best-selling author, but Grayson Perry insists that beneath the frilly dresses, the make-up and the oodles of success, he’s just like normal people. After all, we’re all going to die, right? Join Perry for a night as he shares stories from his upbringing in Essex, his 40-year career and his Big American Road Trip at the Royal Albert Hall.
Price: £23.50+
She's one of Britain's best-loved cookery book writers, but Delia Smith is coming to the London stage, joined by former spin doctor and journalist Alastair Campbell, to discuss not suppers but science. Smith is fascinated by the sheer impossibility of human life, and is convinced that if we work together, we really could solve the big problems of our age. Drawing on her favourite writers including Maslow, Viktor Frankel, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Peter Kropotkin, Smith argues humanity are finally coming of age.
Price: £30
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