Bookings open for the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

探花直播Festival spans all aspects of the human experience and this year鈥檚 theme will explore one of the biggest questions today: what does truth really mean.

Ariel Retik

Bookings open听today [25th September] for the 2017 Cambridge Festival of Ideas, which features a huge range of events and discussions on subjects ranging from empire and Brexit, the future of Europe and conspiracy theories to the past, present and future of India.

celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. It runs from 16th to 29th October with exhibitions, films, performances, talks and debates held around Cambridge, many of them free. 探花直播programme is bursting with over 200 events, a large number investigating the subject that has dominated the news over the past 12 months - truth.

Speakers include some of the world鈥檚 leading thinkers, such as the philosopher Professor Rae Langton on post-truth as post-democracy, historian Professor Richard Evans, Classics author and presenter Tom Holland, the economist Dr Ha-Joon Chang, Tristram Hunt, former Labour MP and now director of the Victorian and Albert Museum, award-winning author Pankaj Mishra, Richard Dearlove, former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service and Dame Athene Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics.

A packed programme of discussions and debates includes:

- a panel discussion covering what Brexit means for business, international relations, education and research, domestic politics and diversity and human rights in the UK. With David Champion, senior editor at the Harvard Business Review, Hans Kundnani, Senior Transatlantic Fellow of the German Marshall Fund, Oreoluwa Ogunbiyi, President of the Cambridge 探花直播 African Caribbean Society, Margret Wintermantel, President of the German Academic Exchange Service, and Professor Robert Wintermute. 27th October

- with Professor Simon Goldhill, Dr Caroline Edwards, Dr Priyamvada Gopal and Professor Frank Furedi. 21st October

- Dr Beth Singler, Dr Nora Ni Loideain, Will Moy from the Full Fact correction agency and author George Zarkadakis. 21st October

- populists can be sloppy with facts and speedy with promises that are impossible to deliver, but they can also highlight real inequities and persuade followers that they are in possession of some greater truth. With Dr Hugo Drochon, Dr Tanya Filer, Dr Ayca Cubukcu, Dr Nayanika Mathur and Dr Madeline Reeves. 16th October

- RAND Europe discuss new research on sleep research and explain why sleep needs to be taken more seriously. 17th October

探花直播Festival also features a number of talks and lectures, several of which related to newly released books or forthcoming projects, including:

, author of the new book No future: punk, politics and British youth culture 1976-1984, on the rise and significance of punk on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the release of the Sex Pistols鈥 groundbreaking album, Never Mind the Bollocks. 24th October

EU law expert Kenneth Armstrong, author of 24th October

- Timothy Less, director of the Nova Europa consultancy,听 explores the future of Eastern Europe and the significance of the region for Europe鈥檚 overall security and political architecture. 21st October

探花直播70th anniversary of Indian independence will be marked with a series of events, exhibitions and films, including a panel discussion on Indian democracy with author Pankaj Mishra [17th October], , at the Botanic Garden [25th October] and , a specially curated series of Indian cinema, from classics to the best contemporary documentaries.

Performance and film are a key feature of the Festival. 探花直播programme features a number of experimental events designed to provoke both the brain and the senses, such as [25th October], which brings together harper and sonic artist Una Monaghan with vocalist Emily DeDakis in a text-sound collaboration, and [18th October], a solo show by award-winning artistic director Shon Dale-Jones which questions the value of art and the power of story.

For art lovers, there are a host of exhibitions throughout the Festival, from Pallavi Paul鈥檚 installation which explores the mechanics of truth production to an exhibition of mythical beasts and supernatural beings depicted in manuscripts, rare books and magic scrolls in .

There are also hands-on event for all ages, ranging from art workshops to and the animals and people who live there [21st October].

Ariel Retik, manager of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 something for everyone at the Festival of Ideas, all designed to challenge people鈥檚 ideas about the world, provoke new ones and raise interesting questions for the future. 探花直播Festival spans all aspects of the human experience and this year鈥檚 theme will explore one of the biggest questions today: what does truth really mean.鈥

探花直播Festival sponsors and partners are St John鈥檚 College, Anglia Ruskin 探花直播, RAND Europe, 探花直播 of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden, Arts Council England, Cambridge Junction, 探花直播Nine Dots Prize, Cambridge Film Festival, Cambridge 探花直播 Press and 探花直播Conversation. 探花直播Festival media partner is BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

*To book ring 01223 766766.听 探花直播full programme is available here.
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