Comedians, politicians, an AI guru, and a Nobel laureate will rub shoulders at Hampstead's annual festival of music and ideas.
HowTheLightGetsIn returns to its regular home on Hampstead Heath in September for a weekend of illuminating talks, debates, and workshops, alongside music and comedy.
Hosted by the Institute of Art and Ideas (IAI), more than 100 speakers and 60 performers are due to appear across 21 and 22 September in the idyllic grounds of Kenwood House.
In what organisers promise to be a mind-expanding experience unlike anything else on the UK festival scene, a cluster of marquees on Kenwood's lawn will host speakers like the ‘Godfather of AI’ Yoshua Bengio, co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer, former speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, and Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, who scooped the 2020 award for physics for his theories on black holes and relativity.
Alongside them will be radical voices such as economist Gary Stevenson, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, political commentator Konstantin Kisin, and revolutionary philosopher Alain Badiou.
The festival also features talks by authors, media commentators and others with bestselling historical novelist Philippa Gregory, mental health activist Ruby Wax, writer and broadcaster Trevor Phillips, endurance athlete Russ Cook (The Hardest Geezer) and former BBC Producer Sam McAllister, whose book Scoop described how she secured the infamous interview with Prince Andrew, taking part.
Controversial Wembley headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh will also appear at the event, which this year takes the theme of Navigating the Unknown.
There will be debates tackling our uncertain crisis-ridden times including economic decline, culture wars, conscious computers and global conflict, but to leaven the mix the deep diving talks are interspersed with comedy sets, cabaret, late night dancing, and music from an an eclectic range of performers - with headliners soon to be announced.
There's a 30% discount on tickets for students and under 25s and Ham&High readers can get 20% off using the code: HAH20
For details https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/london .
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