Author Talk

We look forward to supporting this brilliant event on the University of Bristol's leading role in palaeontological science. Join us at the Wills Memorial Building on July 3, 2026 at 7:00 PM (BST) for a fun and fascinating evening all about ancient life. Whether you’re a fossil fanatic or just curious, this festival is the perfect chance to dive into palaeobiology with experts and fellow enthusiasts. Chaired by Alice Roberts, we will present short videos about discoveries at Bristol, and experts will discuss the fundamental questions: where does life come from; what colour were dinosaurs; how did mass extinctions shape modern life; how can we understand the wonders of ancient life on Earth without a time machine?

We are very pleased to support this event organised by Bristol Talks. Natalie Bennett, Green Party member of the House of Lords, will be in conversation with Andrew Kelly.

Natalie will be discussing her book, Change Everything, a practical and hopeful guide for anyone who wants a route map to a fairer, greener future.

About the book
We are living in a social, political, economic and environmental emergency. The status quo is profoundly unstable; change is inevitable. Now is the time to get together to build a far healthier and more balanced world.

The decades-old political orthodoxy – that greed is good, inequality doesn’t matter and we can keep treating the planet as a mine and a dumping ground – has been a recipe for disaster. Our world needs a new vision, the Green vision. From Universal Basic Income to fee education, from less stuff but more life, to genuine democratic opportunities for all, Natalie Bennett brings together a holistic, hopeful and practical vision for the future.

The foundations of Change Everything are conversations with many thousands of people. We need to engage millions to bring together the imagination, talents and energy of all in order to build and repair our societies. Then a positive future is within our reach.

Doors open at 7pm. The Folk House bar will be open and we will provide a book stall. The talk is from 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Bristol Talks website.

We look forward to supporting this event organised by the Bristol Humanists with Robin Dunbar, author of How Religion Evolved.

When did humans develop spiritual thought? What is religion's evolutionary purpose? And in our increasingly secular world, why has it endured?

Every society in the history of humanity has lived with religion. In How Religion Evolved, its origins are tracked back to what Robin Dunbar terms the 'mystical stance,' the aspect of human psychology that predisposes us to believe in a transcendent world, and which makes an encounter with the spiritual possible. He will explore world religions and their many derivatives, as well as religions of experience practised by hunter-gatherer societies.

Drawing on path-breaking research, clinical case studies and fieldwork from around the globe, as well as stories of charismatic cult leaders, mysterious sects and lost faiths, How Religion Evolved will offer a fascinating and far-reaching analysis of this quintessentially human impulse to believe.

Robin Dunbar is Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is perhaps most famous for the 'Dunbar Number', which is the 150 individuals that each human can sustain meaningful relationships with. His work in anthropology and psychology focuses on the mechanisms that underpin social bonding in primates in general, and humans in particular. He considers that understanding these mechanisms, which includes religion, and the functions that those relationships serve, will give us insights into how humans have managed to create large scale societies using a form of psychology that is evolutionarily adapted to very small scale societies, and why these mechanisms are less than perfect in the modern world.

https://www.meetup.com/bristol-humanists/events/315842885/?eventOrigin=group_events_list

We look forward to supporting the annual Emma Martin lecture organised by the Bristol Humanists:

The Rights of Women with Sian Norris: Where Are We Now, and Where Do We Go Next? 

Think today's anti-abortion ideas are rooted in religious prohibitions or arguments about where life begins? Wrong: today's anti-abortion movements is largely financed and planned by far-right extremists. Many of them are avowedly fascist and white supremacist, afraid of a "great replacement" of the world's white population by other races, who are working hard to reshape governments and policies across Europe, North America and around the world. Much of this far-right organizing and funding network, however, has been overlooked by today's feminist and left movements.

Sian Norris is a Bristolian author and investigative journalist, specialising in women's reproductive rights and violence against women. Her recent book Bodies Under Siege is about the international rise of the far right and its impact on women's reproductive rights. She has also visited and reported from Ukraine on the Russian invasion. Her journalism has included investigations into sexual harassment in the NHS and violence in prisons. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, New Statesman and The I, amongst many others, and she has reported from numerous countries, including Kenya, Romania & Bangladesh . She was the founder of the Bristol Women's Literature Festival and is Senior Investigative Reporter at OpenDemocracy.

Tickets are available here: https://wegottickets.com/f/25511/

Seventy years ago, in October 1956, Hungarians flooded into the streets. For eleven days they fought a brutal Stalinist dictatorship. The revolution was ultimately crushed with an iron fist and Soviet tanks. Hungarian Tragedy is an incredible contemporary account of the revolution. First published in 1956, this new edition aims to introduce those extraordinary events to a new generation. Ben Gliniecki, author of A Communist History of the British General Strike, has written the introduction to this new edition and will be speaking about the history of the revolution and Fryer's work. Please join us in the shop from 5pm for a short talk, question and answer session and chance to pick up your copy of Hungarian Tragedy. The event is free but space is limited. Please RSVP to read@heronbooks.info.

We are very much looking forward to hosting a book stall and signing at St George's for an evening with Brian Bilston. Full details and tickets on their website.

With over 500,000 followers on social media and a host of sell-out shows across the country, Brian Bilston is one of the UK’s most popular poets.

He has published several bestselling collections of poetry, including You Took the Last Bus Home, Alexa, what is there to know about love? and Days Like These. His novel Diary of a Somebody was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, and he has also written collections of poetry for younger readers. In 2025 he released an album of his poetry set to music, Sounds Made by Humans, in collaboration with The Catenary Wires.

This autumn sees Brian return to the stage with his latest book, How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside. Get ready for an evening of comedy and laughter, as he takes us through the hows, whys and whats of reading, writing and enjoying poetry every day.

Does free speech have limits? Can and should social media platforms control what their users say?

In his new book Setting Fire to Reason, philosopher Jeffrey Howard argues that free speech is among our most important moral rights, but—like all rights—it has limits, determined by moral duties we owe to each other. Howard will be unpicking the law, morality and limits of free speech with and host Julian Baggini and political theorist Judith Squires. In the second half, the conversation will be led by your questions. Come not only to hear about free speech, but to participate in it.

Jeffrey W. Howard is professor of political philosophy and public policy at University College London, where he is director of the Digital Speech Lab. He is the author of Setting Fire to Reason: The Ethics of Free Speech and co-editor of the journal Political Philosophy.

Judith Squires was Professor of Political Theory and Dean of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Bristol before becoming its Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost. The New Politics of Gender Equality is among her many publications and commissioned reports.

Tickets from the St George's Bristol website: https://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk/whats-on/philosophy-salon-free-speech-under-fire/

We look forward to supporting this event organised by Bristol Humanists. 

Full details to follow. 

Dr Mark Williamson is co-founder and Director of Action for Happiness.

His book offers 23 practical ways to make life happier. It's based on evidence from the latest scientific research combined with unique insights from the author plus proven ideas that he has helped thousands of people to adopt successfully in their everyday lives. It goes much deeper than typical self-help advice, covering a wide range of themes which contribute to lifelong wellbeing.