BBC Radio 3 “Tearing up the Rule Book” for Free Thinking Festival 2015

BBC Radio 3 “Tearing Up the Rule Book” for Free Thinking Festival 2015

Sage Gateshead: Friday 6 November – Sunday 8 November Booking opens Monday 5 October Event and Ticket Information  The Free Thinking Festival takes place at Sage Gateshead from Friday 6 November – Sunday 8 November  Tickets available from Monday 5 October from 10am at sagegateshead.com and from 12:00 from the Sage Gateshead Ticket Office on 0191 443 4661  Standby tickets will be available on the day  To request a free festival brochure email: freethinking@bbc.co.uk  More information on the Free Thinking Festival can be found at bbc.co.uk/freethinking and sagegateshead.com.  For free tickets call Sage Gateshead Ticket Office on 0191 443 4661 or visit sagegateshead.com/freethinking.

FULL LINE UP FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER IN TUNE 16.15 – 18.30 Live from the NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL (live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 begins at 16.30)

Suzy Klein and guests launch this year’s Free Thinking Festival with live music from Newcastle folk trio Bridie Jackson and The Arbour. Free Thinking guests will give a taste of what’s to come over the weekend including the American poet Claudia Rankine who’ll discuss her opening Free Thinking Lecture, and novelist and political film maker Tariq Ali.

Former Radio 3 New Generation Artist soprano Elizabeth Watts and some of the Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers 2015 share their musical choices.

THE FREE THINKING LECTURE 19.00 – 20.15 SAGE TWO

This year’s Free Thinking Lecture is given by the American poet Claudia Rankine. Her book, Citizen: An American Lyric is a New York Times best seller and has become an instant classic. At one of the most volatile moments in American race history, her meditations on the language used to describe tennis star Serena Williams and on events such as the Ferguson riots and the shooting of the teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida provide the vehicle for an incisive interrogation of justice and injustice, exposing the myth of a ‘post-racial’ 21st century.

A professor of English at the University of Southern California and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Claudia Rankine grew up in first in Kingston Jamaica and then New York City and has also lived in England. Citizen has been called ‘the book of a generation’ and one which ‘throws a Molotov cocktail’ at the idea that the struggle against racial injustice has been won.

The winner of this year’s Forward Prize for Poetry, the PEN Open Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award comes to Sage Gateshead to talk to Free Thinking presenter Matthew Sweet about the power of language and what it means to be black in the new millennium.

RADIO 3 IN CONCERT 19.30 HALL ONE

Royal Northern Sinfonia Exulte, Jubilate

MOZART & STRAUSS arias (25’) STRAVINSKY Concerto in D for string orchestra (12’) SHOSTAKOVICH (arr. Barshai) Chamber Symphony (19’) MOZART Exsultate, Jubilate (16’) Kyra Humphreys director Elizabeth Watts soprano Royal Northern Sinfonia

Originally written for a castrato, but now for soprano, the Exsultate, Jubilate is a fine example of Mozart’s genius: it was written in a day, and most likely without a keyboard to assist, as the teenage composer did what came naturally.

Tickets for this can be booked via sagegateshead.com. They cost £34.50, £28.50, £20.50, £11.50 and concessions are available. Per ticket handling fees and postal charges may apply.

WORLD ON 3 20.30 – 22.30 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL (broadcast on BBC Radio 3 begins at 23.00)

For the first time Radio 3’s world music programme presented by Mary Ann Kennedy comes to Sage Gateshead. Guests playing live include folk legend Peggy Seeger performing with Callum MacColl and Neill MacColl, veteran a cappella group The Wilson Family and folk quintet Project Jam Sandwich, discovered through BBC Introducing.

SATURDAY 7 NOV BREAKFAST 07.00 – 09.00 LIVE FROM RADIO 3’S STUDIO ON THE FOYER

The weekend begins at Sage Gateshead with Martin Handley presenting a live edition of BBC Radio 3’s Breakfast programme.

CD REVIEW 09.00 - 12.15 LIVE FROM RADIO 3’s STUDIO ON THE CONCOURSE

Andrew McGregor presents an edition of BBC Radio 3’s CD Review including a seasonal Building a Library discussion about the best recording of Handel’s Fireworks music with Mark Lowther .

BOOKS AT BREAKFAST: MAKING MISCHIEF In Association with New Writing North 10.15 – 11.15 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Joanne Harris, the multi-million selling author of Chocolat, comes to Sage Gateshead to discuss her new novel, The Gospel of Loki, inspired by the Norse god of trickery, mischief and deception, a shape-shifter whose cultural manifestations range from 13th century legends to Marvel comics and video games. She’s joined by Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough. They discuss the enduring power of Norse mythology in conversation with Free Thinking presenter Anne McElvoy.

RULE BREAKERS OR RULE MAKERS? 10.30 – 11.30 SAGE TWO

Does Britain need more people like Russell Brand, Vivienne Westwood, Richard Branson and Boris Johnson? In business people talk of the power of the ‘disruptive influence’, but is the route to success actually based on discipline and obeying rules - or should we emulate those mavericks prepared to take risks and think differently?

Free Thinking presenter Philip Dodd asks which institutions should consider ripping up their rule books and starting again. Joining this debate about law, politics, business and the history of our relationship with rule- breaking are:

Tariq Ali, novelist , film maker, editor of the New Left Review and author of more than 30 books on world politics and history including his latest - The Extreme Centre, A Warning.

Simon Heffer, historian, Daily Telegraph columnist and author of Strictly English: The correct way to write... and why it matters and High Minds.

Vera Baird QC, the current Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria and a visiting law lecturer at Teesside University is a former Labour MP who served as Solicitor General for England and Wales 2007 – 2010.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: Catherine Fletcher 11.40 – 12.00 THE BARBOUR ROOM

The Moor of Florence: A Medici Mystery

For over 400 years it's been claimed that the first Medici Duke of Florence was mixed-race, his mother a slave of African descent. Catherine Fletcher of Swansea University asks if this extraordinary story about the 16th century Italian political dynasty could be true. Or do the tales of Alessandro de' Medici tell us more about the history of racism and anti-racism than about the man himself?

The New Generation Thinkers are the winners of an annual scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics at the start of their careers who can turn their research into fascinating broadcasts.

MUSIC MATTERS 12.00 – 13.00 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL (live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 begins at 12.15)

Classical music’s rule-breakers

Tom Service hosts a panel of some of the leading musicians of today, to discuss the ways in which classical musicians break the rules, from both contemporary and historical perspectives.

The debate will include a discussion of some standout moments in music history when composers who we think of today as the mainstream establishment figures such as Mozart or Beethoven broke the musical ‘rules’ of their day and asks whether we remember these names today precisely because they challenged conventions of the time.

Tom will tackle thorny questions such as: How much do composers consciously seek to develop new ideas and go beyond the established rules? Do you need to have a thorough knowledge of the historical rules of composition in order to break them? Is there always a pressure to be innovative?’

And there will be debate around what it means to take an individual path in classical music today.

WORK AVAILABLE. NO HUMANS NEED APPLY In association with CAFÉ CULTURE 12.10 – 13.15 SAGE TWO

“By 2029 computers will have emotional intelligence and be as convincing as people”. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s Director of Engineering, predicts this scenario – also explored in Channel 4’s recent hit drama, Humans.

So what are the skills needed for the 21st century workplace and do humans have them?

According to Paul Mason, TV journalist and author of PostCapitalism, we face seismic change in part due to the revolution in information technology.

Paul Mason joins Richard and Daniel Susskind, authors of The Future of the Professions, who argue we will no longer need doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers and others to work as they did in the 20th century.

Chaired by Free Thinking presenter Rana Mitter.

SATURDAY CLASSICS 13.00- 15.00 LIVE FROM RADIO 3’s STUDIO ON THE CONCOURSE

A special edition of Radio 3’s Saturday Classics where the multi-million selling author of Chocolat Joanne Harris chooses music which has inspired and moved her.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: PETER MACKAY 13.25– 13.45 THE BARBOUR ROOM

Kilts, Celts and Clearances in WWI

Thousands of soldiers fought in kilted regiments during the First World War. But what kind of cultural identity was adopted with the kilt? How far was it pervaded by a fatalistic sense of the Celt who ‘went forth to the war but … always fell’, or by the memory of the Highland Clearances? Peter Mackay of the University of St Andrews explores poetry and first-hand accounts from the war to find out.

BREATHALYSING BRITAIN: FREE SPIRITS OR A DRAIN ON SOCIETY? In association with the University of Newcastle Insights Lecture Series 13.30 – 14.30 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Every day we read lurid headlines about alcohol abuse and the consequences of binge drinking for the young at home and abroad. But a deeper look reveals a complicated picture of alcohol use in Britain. Champagne is still linked with celebration, while pubs are closing up and down the country. University freshers’ weeks are adjusting to reflect the increasing number of students who are teetotal - but doctors are reporting a rise in patients with liver damage. How should society accommodate people who drink to excess and those who don’t want to drink at all?

Dr Sally Marlow from King’s College, London is an expert in addiction. In a specially commissioned Free Thinking talk she explores the hypocrisy in society around alcohol.

Joining the debate chaired by Free Thinking presenter Philip Dodd are: Professor Barry Smith - philosopher from the University of London's School of Advanced Study and wine columnist for Prospect magazine. David Yelland – former editor of the Sun and a Trustee of Action on Addiction and Patron of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics. Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, author of Love in a Headscarf and Muslim women’s activist who blogs at Spirit 21 and who is a lifelong teetotaller.

START THE WEEK 14.00 – 15.00 SAGE TWO

Anne McElvoy chairs an edition of BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week exploring injustice, myth and the role of the poet ‘to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides’. The American poet Claudia Rankine exposes the ever-present racial tensions in contemporary society, while the Syrian poet Amir Darwish, having arrived in the UK by clinging to the underside of a lorry on a cross-channel ferry, writes of love, loss, exile and demonisation. This programme will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 9 November at 9am.

SOUND OF CINEMA: JOCELYN POOK 15.00-16.00 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Matthew Sweet presents a live edition of BBC Radio 3’s film music programme, Sound of Cinema. His special guest is the award winning composer Jocelyn Pook whose career in films began when her music was chosen for Stanley Kubrick's 1999 movie Eyes Wide Shut. Since then she has scored almost 30 films for cinema and TV, including The Merchant of Venice, Wild Side, The Government Inspector, Heidi, Brick Lane and Room 304.

Far from being rule bound as an artist, Jocelyn Pook's music is as likely to appear at the Proms or at the Royal Opera House as it is in the pop charts or in the theatre - one of her recent scores was for the Almeida Theatre production of Mike Bartlett's King Charles III. Matthew explores Jocelyn's thoughts about writing for film, and features several recorded examples from her work.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: SANDEEP PARMAR 15.10-15.30 THE BARBOUR ROOM

Nancy Cunard: The Rebellious Heiress

For nearly 200 years, the name Cunard has evoked glamorous images of sleek cruise ships and transatlantic sea travel. Yet the legacy of the Cunard family's black sheep, the disinherited granddaughter Nancy Cunard, is less well-known. Sandeep Parmar of the University of Liverpool explores the tragic life of this scion of a wealthy family who became a revolutionary poet, publisher, modernist muse, anti-fascist and anti-racism activist.

RULE MAKING AND RULE BREAKING FOR WOMEN AND MEN 15.40– 16.40 SAGE TWO

Do men and women have different attitudes to rule breaking? With changing ideas about gender can we say that our minds are wired differently? Helen Fraser, head of the Girls’ Day School Trust said recently that ‘being the compliant girl is never going to get you anywhere’. What are the rules today for relationships and getting on in society? Is it time to throw out received ideas and challenge the advice given to young people?

Free Thinking presenter Rana Mitter chairs a debate that takes the shape of a rule-breaking game show. Our panellists are:

Sheila Hancock , actress and author of three non-fiction books and a novel Miss Carter’s War

Journalist Bim Adewunmi is culture editor at Buzz Feed UK and writes often about popular culture and how it intersects with gender and race

Neil Bartlett, theatre director and author whose most recent novel is The Disappearance Boy

Jonny Mitchell, the headmaster in Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire and now the Head of the Co-operative Academy of Leeds

LIVE JAZZ RECORD REQUESTS 1600-1700 LIVE FROM RADIO 3’s STUDIO ON THE CONCOURSE

Join Radio 3 presenter Alyn Shipton for a live edition of Radio 3’s iconic programme, Jazz Record Requests, with listeners’ own choices of jazz that “breaks the rules”. Come along to Sage Gateshead to see and hear the live show and email your request for rule-breaking jazz to [email protected]

‘SPEED DATING ’ WITH NEW GENERATION THINKERS 16.15 – 17.05 THE SQUIRES LOUNGE NEXT TO SAGE GATESHEAD’S CAFÉ

Come and vote for the most exciting idea from our panel of young academics. Your chance to participate in discussions with each New Generation Thinker before the bell sounds and it’s time to move on. Hosted by Ian McMillan.

BREAKING NEWS – TELLING STORIES IN FACT AND FICTION 17.10-18.10 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Are the rules of drama increasingly influencing the way the world is presented to us? TV news bulletins now employ chapter headings, dramatisations and music. Hollywood transforms real life stories into dramatized blockbusters at a dizzying rate. As it becomes harder to separate fact from fiction are we overvaluing the ‘real’ ? In this new multimedia environment, do we understand what the new rules of fiction and storytelling are?

Sorting out facts from faction with Free Thinking presenter Matthew Sweet are:

John Yorke, a visiting Professor at Newcastle University, is a former Controller of Drama at the BBC and Channel 4, whose CV includes East Enders, Shameless, Life on Mars, George Gently and Wolf Hall. He is the author of Into the Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them.

Emily Woof is a radio and theatre writer, a performer and novelist. She grew up in Newcastle. Her latest novel is The Lightning Tree

Journalist Bim Adewunmi is culture editor at Buzz Feed UK and writes often about popular culture and how it intersects with gender and race

Allan Little is a journalist and broadcaster and has been a foreign affairs reporter for the BBC for 25 years, reporting from more than eighty countries. He was recently awarded the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcast Journalism.

THE FAMILY IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE FAMILY! In association with Culture Café 17.20 – 18.25 HALL TWO

What is going on inside Britain’s families? From three parent families and surrogacy, to stepfamilies - the fastest rising type of home in the UK - the days of the ‘traditional’ family are apparently over. The divorce rate in the UK stands at 42%, the highest in the EU, yet nearly 75% of us apparently consider ourselves to be happy with our lives at home. So what are the new rules of family life?

Joining Free Thinking presenter Anne McElvoy are:

Anne Fine was the first Children’s Laureate and an acclaimed author of books for adults and children including Madame Doubtfire and Telling Liddy.

Tobias Jones is a novelist and communalist who opened his home as a sanctuary for people in a period of crisis and explores the results in his new book, A Place of Refuge: an Experiment in Communal Living.

Professor Sarah Cunningham Burley from Edinburgh University is Co-Director of the Centre for Population Health Studies.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: DANIEL LEE 18.15-18.35 THE BARBOUR ROOM Jews in Occupied France: Coexistence with the Enemy?

The brutal treatment of Jews in Vichy France during the Second World War that culminated in their roundup and deportation is widely known. But is this the only way to consider Jewish life at this time? Focusing on the Jewish Scouting Movement Daniel Lee from the University of Sheffield reveals the possibility of coexistence between the Vichy regime and the Jews, exposing a world of Jewish creativity and expression that flourished just as the regime’s antisemitic measures intensified. The New Generation Thinkers are the winners of an annual scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics at the start of their careers who can turn their research into fascinating broadcasts.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: SAM GOODMAN 18.45 – 19.05 THE BARBOUR ROOM

Beer and the British Empire

From a breakfast drink to start the day to the treatment of bullet-wounds beer has been a constant accompaniment to British life for centuries. Nowhere was this truer than in Imperial India where beer played a central role in colonial commerce, medicine and leisure. Sam Goodman of the University of Bournemouth explores this colonial drinking culture and how many of its habits have lingered to the present day, noting that whilst the Empire might be long gone, British taste for beer has proved remarkably consistent.

SEAN O’BRIEN AND AGUSTÍN FERNÁNDEZ In association with the Durham Book Festival 19.05-19.35 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Poet Sean O’Brien and composer Agustín Fernández discuss their recent collaboration on Notes from Underground: a Song-Cycle, a work inspired by W.H.Auden and the North Pennine lead-mining district. These two acclaimed North-East based artists were commissioned by the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the song cycle was premiered recently at the Durham Book Festival. They explain how the piece was created and introduce short extracts.

THE EARLY MUSIC SHOW 19.30-20.45 ST MARY’S CHURCH NEXT TO SAGE GATESHEAD (broadcast on Radio 3 on Sunday 8th at 14.00)

The Marian Consort - Bending the Rules in Early Music

Radio 3’s Early Music Show comes to the Free Thinking Festival for the first time. Acclaimed vocal group, The Marian Consort, under its director Rory McCleery, performs an intriguing concert of early music from composers whose creative imagination and religious principles prompted them to disregard the established musical rules of their day. In the sixteenth century Carlo Gesualdo's extraordinary vocal music pushed ideas of harmony to new limits in his pursuit of emotional truth; William Byrd's settings of religious text are sometimes covert expressions of his Catholic faith at a time when such beliefs were forbidden and dangerous. The Marian Consort's programme is introduced by Lucie Skeaping.

THE VERB 20.00 – 21.00 SAGE TWO

Poet and Radio 3 presenter Ian McMillan hosts a Saturday night special edition of his ‘cabaret of the word’ with poetry, new writing and live performance. Joining Ian on stage are:

Pat Barker - the Booker Prize winning novelist whose latest book is Noonday, the third instalment of her acclaimed Second World War trilogy, praised for her skill ‘in bringing Blitz London back to fiery life.’

Jacob Polley – twice nominated for the T.S.Eliot Prize for his work in poetry and winner of the Somerset Maugham Award for his novel, Talk of the Town. He’ll be performing new work, a collaboration with John Alder.

John Alder - composer and musician who has created sound-design for BBC natural history programmes, and also for the theatre. He first came to prominence in the music charts of the late 1970s and early 1980s as a member of West Yorkshire band The Jags.

James Yorkston – the songwriter whose most recent album, The Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society was described in reviews as ‘another sublime piece of work’, and ‘poetic genius’.

Carmen Marcus –one of four writers selected from across the North to take part in the prestigious Verb New Voices scheme. Now in its third year, the scheme is a joint initiative between the BBC, Arts Council England, New Writing North, The Writing Squad, Arvon and Freedom Studios, and supports writers to create an innovative new piece of work for broadcast.

SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER

BREAKFAST 07.00 – 09.00 LIVE FROM RADIO 3’s STUDIO ON THE CONCOURSE

Festival Sunday begins at Sage Gateshead with Martin Handley presenting BBC Radio 3’s Breakfast programme broadcast live.

SUNDAY MORNING 09.00 –12.00 LIVE FROM RADIO 3’s STUDIO IN THE FOYER

For the first time Radio 3’s Sunday Morning presented by Rob Cowan comes to Sage Gateshead as part of the Free Thinking Festival. Come and join us for the live broadcast and join in the conversation about rules in music.

THE VERB 11.00 – 12.00 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL (note doors close 10.55 for Armistice silence at 11am)

Poet and presenter Ian McMillan hosts a Sunday morning edition of his showcase for all that’s best in poetry, new writing and live performance. Joining him are: Sean O’Brien – poet, playwright, critic and Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He will be celebrating the writer Julia Darling, who died 10 years ago. Darling was a much-loved and inspirational figure, particularly in the North-East, and collaborated with Sean. Sean’s latest poetry collection is The Beautiful Librarians. Chanje Kunda - one of four writers selected from across the North to take part in the prestigious Verb New Voices scheme. Now in its third year, the scheme is a joint initiative between the BBC, Arts Council England, New Writing North, The Writing Squad, Arvon and Freedom Studios, and supports writers to create an innovative new piece of work for broadcast. Camille O’Sullivan - as much storyteller as singer, Camille has an international reputation for her emotionally intense performances of the songs of Jacques Brel, Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Kurt Weill. Debbie Taylor is the founder of Mslexia magazine, the author of a non-fiction travelogue, My Children, My Gold and two novels, The Fourth Queen and The Herring Girl.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: JOE MOSHENSKA 11.30-11.50 THE BARBOUR ROOM Inside a Pirate’s Cookbook: a culinary journey through the 17th century The 1667 recipe book by Sir Kenelm Digby featured tea with eggs brought from China, sugared mallow-leaves that cured gonorrhea and ‘pan cotto' cooked by Roman Cardinals. Digby had journeyed far and wide to collect his dishes, feasting with pirate chieftains in Algiers and munching melons in the eastern Mediterranean. Joe Moshenska of the University of Cambridge explores Kenelm Digby’s culinary travels, revealing startling contacts between Britain and the East, between alchemy and cookery, and between the past and the present.

THE CHOIR 11.30 – 13.00 SAGE TWO (broadcast at 16.00 on Radio 3)

BBC Radio 3’s weekly celebration of the best of the choral world, The Choir, returns to Free Thinking for live performance and interviews. Presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch is joined on stage by YouTube sensation and “one man choir”, Sam Robson. Come and hear how he harnesses technology to create a live choral soundscape from his single voice. Also featuring the winners of the 2014 Open Choir of the Year title and multi award- winning ensemble Rainbow Collection Singers.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: NADINE MULLER 12.10 – 12.30 THE BARBOUR ROOM

Women on Their Own: Widows in Britain, Now and Then

“Widows are exceptions to every rule”, Charles Dickens tells us in his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, published in 1837. Eighty years later, in 1917, a tune called “Widows are Wonderful” rings through the theatres and homes of a war-stricken Britain. “Widow! That great, vacant estate!” writes poet Sylvia Plath after the Second World War as the country grieves in silence. Nadine Muller of Liverpool John Moores University uncovers the hidden history of widows in Britain from the 19th century to the present day and explores what has made them so tragically melancholic, exceptional, and wonderful in British culture. The New Generation Thinkers are the winners of an annual scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics at the start of their careers who can turn their research into fascinating broadcasts.

NEW GENERATION THINKER: KYLIE MURRAY 12.40-13.00 THE BARBOUR ROOM

The Medieval Scottish Dream State

The 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum and this year's general election led to a passionate debate about nationhood and nationalism. Kylie Murray of the University of Oxford discusses the ways in which the sentiments about Anglo-Scottish relations and about Scottish identity can be seen in 15th century Scottish literature including the Scottish Latin chronicle, the Scotichronicon and Hary's The Wallace, a vernacular epic poem about William Wallace, the champion of Scottish independence. The New Generation Thinkers are the winners of an annual scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics at the start of their careers who can turn their research into fascinating broadcasts.

LANDMARK - ANGELA CARTER In association with New Writing North 12.45 – 13.45 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Angela Carter’s work was described by Salman Rushdie as ‘without equal and without rival’. The award winning author of The Bloody Chamber, Wise Children and Nights at the Circus was a pioneer of English magic realism who re-imagined fairy tales and explored boundary breaking and rebelling against the confines of society.

Thirteen years after her early death the novelists Joanna Kavenna and Natasha Pulley join Angela Carter’s literary executor Susannah Clapp and her friend the cultural critic Sir Christopher Frayling to discuss Carter’s writing and influence with Free Thinking presenter Philip Dodd. The reader is Emily Woof.

Sir Christopher Frayling is the author of Inside the Bloody Chamber: on Angela Carter, the Gothic, and other weird tales which draws on the letters he and Carter exchanged.

Joanna Kavenna is the author of five novels including Come to the Edge. In 2013 she was included in the Granta List of 20 best young writers.

Natasha Pulley is the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and a graduate of the creative writing programme at the University of East Anglia.

Susannah Clapp is the author of A Card from Angela Carter and Theatre Critic for The Observer.

SPEED DATING WITH NEW GENERATION THINKERS 13.05 – 13.55 THE SQUIRES LOUNGE NEXT TO SAGE GATESHEAD’S CAFÉ

Come and vote for the most exciting idea from our panel of young academics. Your chance to participate in discussions with a New Generation Thinker before the bell sounds and it’s time to move on. Hosted by Radio 3 presenter Ian McMillan. No tickets needed.

THE RULES OF GOOD SCIENCE In Association with Durham University 14.00 – 15.00 SAGE TWO

Science progresses by breaking the rules of the past. New observations need new theories to explain them. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity made sense of observations that Newton’s Laws of Motion could not. But how can we distinguish between the brilliant ideas that change our view of the world and those that are plain wrong? And does that make science too cautious to try out new ideas?

Joining Free Thinking presenter Rana Mitter are:

Professor Carlos Frenk, founding Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University and winner of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2014 Jim al-Khalili, Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific and TV documentaries. His books include Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Science, Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines and Quantum: A Guide For The Perplexed Dr Katy Price from Queen Mary, University of London, author of Loving Faster Than Light: Romance and Readers in Einstein’s Universe Dr Tom Shakespeare from the University of East Anglia, who co-founded the Café Scientifique network, which now has hundreds of affiliates in UK and worldwide.

PUTTING COMPETITION TO THE TEST - The Best Ways to Get the Best 14.30-15.30 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

From TV talent contests such as The Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing to the pressures of school exams and job interviews – competition is at the heart of the way we live our lives. What can we learn from sports stars whose lives are geared to cultivating a healthy competitive instinct? Is the desire to be successful bringing out the best in us - or the worst?

Constructively and co-operatively arguing with Free Thinking presenter Anne McElvoy are:

Margaret Heffernan, entrepreneur, CEO and author of A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and Wilful Blindness

Matthew Syed, former England Table Tennis number one and Times columnist and author whose books include Bounce: The myth of talent and the power of practice and, most recently, Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth about Success.

Cath Bishop, Olympic medallist and World Champion rower, worked as a British diplomat specialising in conflict issues, working in Bosnia and Iraq and is now a leadership speaker specialising in topics relating to high performance and resilience.

Christopher Frayling, author and broadcaster, former head of Arts Council England

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: CLARE WALKER GORE 15.15-15.35 THE BARBOUR ROOM

Politician and Pioneer: Writing the Life of Arthur Kavanagh

The colourful life of Arthur Macmurrough Kavanagh overturns everything we think we know about disabled people’s lives in the 19th century. Born without hands and feet, he was an adventurous traveller and a Member of Parliament, a tiger-hunting landowner whose attempts to resist the rising tide of Irish nationalism were ultimately defeated, and whose amazing career has been largely forgotten. But how did his first biographer meet the challenge of writing his life? Clare Walker Gore of the University of Cambridge discusses The Life of Arthur Macmurrough Kavanagh and what this fascinating biography contributes to our understanding of disabled people in the 19th century.

STAGE DIRECTIONS: JULIET STEVENSON AND NATALIE ABRAHAMI IN CONVERSATION 15.45-16.45 SAGE TWO

Actress Juliet Stevenson - whose work on theatre, film and TV includes Les liaisons dangereuses, The Village and the BAFTA award winning Truly Madly Deeply – comes to Sage. She’s joined on stage by Natalie Abrahami, who directed Stevenson in an acclaimed recent revival of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days at the Young Vic in London. They ask: how easy is it to break rules in the theatre?

The text of a play contains stage directions - sometimes very precise. If the play is a classic, audiences and critics may have fixed ideas about what they expect to see. Free Thinking presenter Matthew Sweet chairs a discussion which lifts the curtain on the experimentation that goes on in the rehearsal room and before the TV cameras roll.

OLD WAYS, NEW DIRECTIONS 16.00 – 17.00 NORTHERN ROCK FOUND ATION HALL

In the hunger for new ideas, are we forgetting the hard-earned lessons of the past? James Rebanks is the Cumbrian shepherd sharing his farming knowledge with thousands of followers on his twitter account @herdyshepherd1 His book A Shepherd’s Life has been reprinted several times since its publication earlier this year.

Professor Veronica Strang is a cultural anthropologist based at Durham University and the author of The Meaning of Water.

In a discussion chaired by Free Thinking presenter Rana Mitter, they explore human interactions with the environment and discuss the value of hard-won traditional knowledge and its challenges to the modern world.

NEW GENERATION THINKER ESSAY: DANIELLE THOM 17.05-17.25 THE BARBOUR ROOM Sculpture and Seduction in the 18th Century

The 18th century was the age of politeness - and of bawdiness. Fine manners and fine art coexisted with earthy attitudes to sex and the body, even in the most elevated circles. Curator and art historian Danielle Thom of the Victoria and Albert Museum explains why classical sculpture, the high point of 18th century artistic taste, had a surprising influence on rude, lewd and erotic prints; and what this tells us about the surprisingly modern attitude to sexuality in the Georgian period. The New Generation Thinkers are the winners of an annual scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics at the start of their careers who can turn their research into fascinating broadcasts.

IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD DAWKINS 17.30 – 18.30 SAGE TWO

‘We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further’. Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion, caused a sensation when it was first published nearly 10 years ago. Rebutting religions of all kinds Dawkins became one of ‘the New Atheists’, a group of thinkers including Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. He first came to public attention though in 1976 with his iconic book, The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution. In 2013 he was voted the world’s top thinker in Prospect magazine’s poll of over 10,000 readers from over 100 countries. Richard Dawkins comes to Sage Gateshead to talk to Free Thinking presenter Philip Dodd about his memoir, Brief Candle in the Dark, in which he explores his life in the intersection between culture, religion and science.

RADIO 4’S THE LIFE SCIENTIFIC RETHINKING ENERGY: JIM AL-KHALILI IN CONVERSATION WITH PAUL YOUNGER 17.30 – 18.30 NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Can we heat our homes using energy from deep beneath our feet? Can we use fossil fuels without damaging our environment? Paul Younger, Professor of Energy Engineering at Glasgow University, discusses these approaches to keeping the lights on in the future with presenter Jim al-Khalili.

WORDS AND MUSIC 17.20 – 18.45 LIVE ON RADIO 3 FROM ST MARYS CHURCH NEXT TO SAGE GATESHEAD FROM 1730

Be in the audience at St Mary’s Church and join actor Stephen Tompkinson, members of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, pianist John Reid, and choir Voices of Hope for a special live broadcast of Radio 3’s Words and Music. The programme mixes poetry, prose and live music performance, all inspired by this year’s Free Thinking theme, Tearing Up The Rule Book. Readings of poetry and prose by Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, Emmeline Pankhurst, William Golding and Charles Darwin are accompanied by a live performance of work by Beethoven, Byrd, Cage, Shostakovich and Gesualdo.

ENDS