5x15

Lionel Shriver discusses the complexities of life and the politics of death in her darkly funny new novel Should We Stay or Should We Go? at 5x15. Lionel Shriver was christened ‘the Cassandra of American letters’ by the New York Times in recognition of her writing’s unerring prescience. Her first novel, The Female of the Species, was published in 1987, but it was with the Orange Prize-winning We Need to Talk About Kevin that she took up her position as one of our leading novelists and social commentators. She has written for the Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Economist and Harper's, and is a contributor to The Spectator. Her acclaimed new novel, Should We Stay or Should We Go, begins in pandemic-hit Britain but spins off into multiple futures as it provocatively and wittily explores what makes a good life – and a good death. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts an

What can the planet’s oldest plants teach us about our humanity and our place in the world? In this special 5x15 podcast, journalist Lucy Jones, author of the best-selling book Losing Eden, is joined by acclaimed thinker, writer and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment conversation Robin Wall Kimmerer, who explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Lucy Jones is a writer and journalist based in Hampshire, England. She previously

In this funny and poignant talk for 5x15, Jack Guinness takes us on a short journey through queer history. He speaks about his incredible project, The Queer Bible, and discusses the value of freeing oneself from the trappings of narrow identity. Jack Guinness is a model and fashion commentator, a contributing editor at British GQ, and has also contributed to Sunday Times Style, the Guardian, the Gentleman’s Journal and Tatler. In The Queer Bible – published this June to celebrate Pride Month – he has brought together a stellar line-up of today’s queer icons to write about the queer trailblazers who inspired them. Based on Jack’s popular website QueerBible.com, it continues his mission to create a space dedicated to the celebration of queer history, and features contributors including Elton John, Munroe Bergdorf, Graham Norton, Lady Phyll, Paris Lees, Russell Tovey, Tan France and Courtney Act, as well bespoke illustrations from LGBTQ+ and ally artists. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell o

In this special 5x15 podcast, Join George Monbiot, Franny Armstrong on their quest to restore our rivers to their rightful place - not only in the nation’s imagination - but also to make them clean, swimmable, a rich diverse home to fish, birds and animals. Franny and George will be discussing their innovative, "live documentary"- Rivercide- and from other leading experts and campaigners. To find out more about Rivercide and how you can watch the live documentary on 14th July at 7pm on rivercide.tv. Twitter (@rivercide_live), Insta (@rivercide_live) and Facebook (facebook.com/rivercideTV). Rivercide is the world's first live investigative documentary, presented by George Monbiot, directed by Franny Armstrong and with the livestream produced by Peter Armstrong. The 60 minute programme will be broadcast live online - free to view - on July 14th at 7pm via rivercide.tv. This 5x15 discussion features: Investigative journalist, author, campaigner and self-described "professional troublemaker," George Monbiot.

Kate Mosse joins interviewer Rosie Boycott to discuss An Extra Pair of Hands: A story of caring, ageing and everyday acts of love. Kate Mosse is an international bestselling novelist, playwright and nonfiction author with sales of more than eight million copies in 38 languages. Renowned for bringing unheard and under-heard histories to life, she is a champion of women's creativity. Kate is the Founder Director of the Women's Prize for Fiction, sits on the Executive Committee of Women of the World and is a Visiting Professor of Contemporary Fiction and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. Kate lives in West Sussex with her husband and mother-in-law. Rosie Boycott is a cross bench peer in the House of Lords. For ten years she was chair of The London food Board, responsible to the Mayor of London for food policy in the City. She is a well known food activist with particular interest in food poverty, health, environment and agricultural sustainability. She is a trustee of the Food Foundation and Fe

Best selling author and Oscar nominated documentary film maker Sebastian Junger discusses his new book Freedom with Jon Lee Anderson at 5x15. Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this 5x15 podcast Sebastian Junger examines the tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human with American author and journalist Jon Lee Anderson. Sebastian Junger is the No.1 New York Times best selling author of The Perfect Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont, War, Tribe, and Freedom. As an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a special correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories around the world, and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Junger is also a documentary filmmaker whose debut film "Restrepo", a feature-length docume

Human beings have relied on plants throughout our evolved history - to alter consciousness, to stimulate, to calm and to radically alter the way we see the world. For this unmissable 5x15 event, award-winning author, activist and journalist, Michael Pollan joins us to talk about his groundbreaking new book This Is Your Mind On Plants in conversation with gardener and broadcaster Monty Don who for years has been leading us down all kinds of garden paths to show us why our relationship to the natural world is vital to our wellbeing and culture. This Is Your Mind On Plants explores our deep relationship with three very different plants from which we derive opium, caffeine and mescaline, and what they can do for us. Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos, in this personal journey of exploration and participation in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs. He finds there is much more to say about these plants than simply debating their

Gillian Tett is editor-at-large at the Financial Times and bestselling author of Fool’s Gold. Now she’s returning to her early training to explain how anthropology can help us understand the corporate world. Join Gillian in conversation with undercover economist Tim Harford, author of How To Make the World Add Up, as they discuss Anthro-Vision. For over a century, anthropologists have immersed themselves in unfamiliar cultures, uncovering the hidden rituals that govern how people act. Now, a new generation of anthropologists are using these methods in a new context – to illuminate the behaviour of businesses and consumers around the globe. In Anthro-Vision, Gillian Tett – who holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Cambridge – reveals how anthropology can help make sense of how we buy, sell, work and live, and outlines how to identify the ‘webs of meaning’ that underpin consumers’ behaviour. She explains how concealed systems of barter shape our relationship with Silicon Valley, reveals the subtl

Lawrence Wright has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. He is also an author, a screenwriter and a playwright. Wright has published twelve books, including The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda's Road to 9/11 (2006), which was translated into twenty-four languages and won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. In 2018, the book was adapted into a Hulu original drama starring Jeff Daniels, Alec Baldwin, and Tahar Rahim. In April, 2020, Wright published his second novel, The End of October about a pandemic, which eerily anticipated many of the events of the coronavirus pandemic. Wright lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, and plays the keyboard for the blues band WhoDo. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

What can artists offer in response to climate change? The experience of the pandemic has shown us that a profound reimagining of many aspects of society are entirely possible. In what ways can we rethink our relationship to the environment? How can we effect change with our every action? Join us to hear from artists and thinkers delivering an urgent and innovative response to the climate emergency. Back to Earth, the Serpentine’s major environmental programme is a multi-year initiative which invites leading artists, architects, poets, filmmakers, scientists, thinkers and designers to devise campaigns, protocols and initiatives to respond to the environmental crisis. The first Back to Earth publication, 140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth, edited by Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist together with Kostas Stasinopoulos, represents the exhibition of these ideas in book form, a unique compendium of recipes, sketches, photographs, texts, actions and instructions from some of the most creative minds o

5x15 podcast with two leading environmentalists, who have helped us to understand the complex cycle of forest life and why it must be preserved before it's too late. World-renowned scientist Suzanne Simard is author of Finding the Mother Tree, a dazzling scientific detective story from the ecologist who first discovered the hidden language of trees. No one has done more to transform our understanding of trees and now she shares the secrets of a lifetime spent uncovering startling truths about trees: their cooperation, healing capacity, memory, and, she argues, wisdom and sentience. Jonathan Drori‘s Around the World in 80 Trees is a worldwide bestseller, now in 18 languages. Following in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg, he tells the stories of 80 magnificent tree species from all over the globe, entwining plant science with history, culture and folklore to illuminate how trees play a role in every part of human life. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspiration

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's chief theatre critic. A journalist for over twenty years, she is the former literary editor of the Independent, where she also worked as arts correspondent and news reporter. She has previously contributed to the Observer and the Financial Times. She is on the board of trustees for the Orwell Foundation and English PEN. Short pieces of her non-fiction have appeared in several anthologies. Consumed is her first book. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Often beautiful, sometimes deadly, but constantly ingenious, plants are the source of life and delight, myth and mayhem. Jonathan Drori CBE is the author of the acclaimed Around the World in 80 Trees, which sold 120,000 copies worldwide, an Ambassador for the WWF, fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and a former Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. His new book Around the World in 80 Plants takes readers on a trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of plants by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. Sarah Raven is the author of numerous bestselling books on both gardening and cooking, and is a regular on the BBC’s Great British Garden Revival and Gardener’s World. Her new book A Year Full of Flowers is a guide to gardening in all seasons, which reveals the hundreds of hardworking varieties that make the garden sing each month, together with the practical tasks that ensure everything is planted, staked

Two leading classicists on the remarkable stories of the women of the ancient world and the injustice in how they are often understood today. Natalie Haynes is the author of six books. Most recently Pandora’s Jar: Women and the Greek Myths (2020) and A Thousand Ships, published by Pan Macmillan in 2019, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020. She has written and recorded six series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics for BBC Radio 4. Series Seven will be broadcast in summer 2021. Professor Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, who has devoted the last 25 years to the vibrant communication of the past. Her films on histories and culture are regularly watched by over 200 million worldwide. Her most recent book is Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess (2019), published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Her Sunday Times best-selling Istanbul A Tale of Three Cities has been translated into twelve languages and was shortlisted for the Runciman Prize, her N

Emma Dabiri is an Irish-Nigerian academic, activist, broadcaster and teaching fellow in the Africa department at SOAS and a Visual Sociology PhD researcher at Goldsmiths. Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD, is president emerita of Spelman College and author of several books, including the New York Times best-selling Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About Race. A thought-leader in higher education, she was the 2013 recipient of the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award and the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. Interviewed by Georgina Lawton a 'twentysomething' journalist and speaker. A former Guardian Weekend columnist, she is now a freelancer contributor for the paper, and also writes for a number of other publications such as: The Independent, Stylist, gal-dem, Travel + Leisure, VICE, Time Out London and more. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, pas

Timothy Garton Ash is the author of ten books of political writing or ‘history of the present’ which have charted the transformation of Europe over the last half century. He is Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His essays appear regularly in the New York Review of Books and he writes a column on international affairs in the Guardian which is widely syndicated in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Walter Isaacson, talks about his new book The Code Breaker. Walter is a professor of history at Tulane, has been the CEO of the Aspen Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow, the chairman of CNN, and the editor of TIME magazine. He is a host of the show “Amanpour and Company” on PBS and CNN, a contributor to CNBC, and host of the podcast “Trailblazers, from Dell Technologies.” He is also an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm based in New York City. Isaacson is the author of Leonardo da Vinci (2017), The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Steve Jobs (2011), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986). 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each

Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, first working at the Royal London Hospital and now as a consultant in clinical neurophysiology and neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. She specializes in the investigation of complex epilepsy and also has an active interest in psychogenic disorders. Suzanne’s first book, It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize and her critically acclaimed Brainstorm was published in 2018. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Jaiden Corfield is an award-winning activist and campaigner from North Manchester who is currently at Oxford studying PPE. He began fighting for change seven years ago at Reclaim, a charity that aims to create the next generation of working-class leaders, launching national campaigns and delivering talks across the country. Jaiden is a trustee for Rekindle school, an advisor for Big Change and a project manager for Ashoka; and the founder of his new venture Outliers. Big Change is a small but disruptive force for positive change, working for young people and those who support them. We back pioneers and projects that deliver bold approaches on the frontline, create a community to support them, and activate diverse allies who want to reimagine and transform education. This special event asks us all to rethink our education story and what we really care about for children. Our partners at Big Change will share how you can engage with the new Co-mission on the Purpose and Future of Education. 5x15 brings toget

Adam Grant is an organisational psychologist, TED speaker and leading expert on motivation, meaning and creativity. He was recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 5 books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages: Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. His new book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know is out now. Big Change is a small but disruptive force for positive change, working for young people and those who support them. We back pioneers and projects that deliver bold approaches on the frontline, create a community to support them, and activate diverse allies who want to reimagine and transform education. This special event asks us all to rethink our education story and what we really care about for children. Our partners at Big Change will share how you can engage with the new Co-mission on the Purpose and Future of Education. 5x15 brings together five ou