Theresa May, Rev. Richard Coles and Venki Ramakrishnan at King’s Arts
Wimbledon BookFest welcomed former Prime Minister Rt Hon. Theresa May MP, Nobel prizewinner Venki Ramakrishnan and all-round national treasure Rev. Richard Coles at King’s Arts festival.
Over the course of two gloriously sunny days, audiences were treated to three unmissable BookFest events, in partnership with King’s Arts.
Tuesday night saw Nobel prize-winning biologist and former President of the Royal Society Venki Ramakrishnan discussing the research and ideas behind his fascinating book, Why We Die with journalist and writer Stefan Stern.
Ramakrishnan took the audience on a fascinating exploration into the ageing process and the factors which influence both our quality of life and our longevity. Opening the floor to questions from the audience, Ramakrishnan speculated on diverse issues from the future of AI to the concept of whether living forever would be desirable.
On Wednesday, we welcomed former Prime Minister, Rt Hon. Theresa May in conversation with political editor of The Sunday Times Caroline Wheeler.
May spoke on the abuse of power in the highest institutions, discussing both past and recent events, and laid out what can be done to address these injustices in public life.
The evening ended with former musician and current priest, presenter and crime writer Reverend Richard Coles. In a lively conversation with Suzi Feay, he talked about the pleasures and intricacies of crime writing, and how his own experiences of chaplaincy inspired and informed his Canon Clement series.
Rev. Richard Coles entertained audiences with candid answers to their questions, from how it feels to kill off characters (‘extremely satisfying’) to his favourite Communards song (their cover of ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’).
These events were run in partnership with King’s Arts, as part of our year-round festival. In September, we look forward to running events at the Polka Theare for their Big Dreams Festival, with authors such as World Book Day author Tọlá Okogwu and award-winning illustrator Jonny Duddle. Find out more here.
