Talks & lectures

Taking over the West End of Glasgow each year, the festival treats the ears to a great musical line-up, tantalises all the senses with a carnival and delves into the creative depths of local studios and exhibitions with the Hidden Lane Festival.

A look at how one's approach to relationships reflect oneself, followed up by a meditation session.

Learn more about the library's collections with this special tour and talk.

Rattle Tales returns to Brighton Fringe after a sell-out show last year. We’re looking forward to hearing tales from a selection of writers and, as ever, anything goes. Funny, sad, peculiar, there's no restrictions on stories or the audience discussion afterwards. Brighton’s only interactive short story night is a unique…

Learn more about a specific component of Glasgow Museums' vast collection from an expert on the subject. Booking is essential.

Broadcaster and storyteller Morton shares everything he knows about the delicious golden liquid, from its history to secrets from its makers to songs and stories inspired by it. As it will be impossible to listen to these tales without having a few drams yourself, three single malt whiskies will be tasted.

A look at the work of Janet Henderson, who helped to establish the organic, local sourcing and healthy eating scene here in Scotland, and a glance at the future of food culture in the country. Booking is essential.

How much have our attitudes to abortion moved on in the last century, and what is literature's role in the debate? We hear from two novelists who address this subject in their work. Kate Manning is the author of My Notorious Life by Madame X, a novel based on the true story of an infamous midwife in New York at the…

How does one develop a good habit and how long does it take? Find out at this talk, followed up by a meditation session.

The man with the jet black hair from Coast talks about his new book and TV series, all about those horn-hatted warriors from overseas.

Jack Halberstam mines mainstream culture for its queer potential in relation to female masculinity and drag kings, anarchy, failure and chaos, here finding an emergent cultural idiom of anarchistic revolt in Jay Z and Kanye West's No Church in the Wild.

Dr Andrew Ross, the curator of the Amazing Amber exhibition, reveals the nitty gritty about the substance, looking to science, stories and even ways to spot a fake.

Peter Abrahams, Professor of Clinical Anatomy at Warwick University, explores the value of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings as a tool for understanding the human body, and how closely the artist anticipated the range of imagery used by the medical profession today.

SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER Weekend events from 10am The Pill. Rebellion. Experimentation. Protest. Civil Rights. This weekend we look at the Vietnam protests, pop art, social change, the anti-nuclear movement, civil rights, the Profumo affair, Skiffle, the Beatles and maverick composers including Frank Zappa, Stockhausen…

SATURDAY 26 – SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER Weekend events from 10am The Pill. Rebellion. Experimentation. Protest. Civil Rights. This weekend we look at the Vietnam protests, pop art, social change, the anti-nuclear movement, civil rights, the Profumo affair, Skiffle, the Beatles and maverick composers including Frank…

Rebecca Goldstein ponders the conflict between literature and moral philosophy and whether or not literature is more adept at engendering moral advances than dear old Plato might have imagined.

The mountainous Abruzzo region has less than half the vineyard land of Tuscany, and yet it produces nearly twice as much wine, thanks to the dry Adriatic breezes that blow in from the East. The most famous wine of the region is Montepulciano, but here's a chance to try some others.

One of Britain's leading intellectuals, AC Grayling makes his case against Religion and for Humanism. He gives a talk which asks, what is the alternative to religion as a view of the world and a foundation for morality? Is there a world-view and a code of life for thoughtful people who wish to live with intellectual…

Writer, perfume expert and jogger Alex Musgrave talks about his life in poetry and scent (he's Business Manager of Penhaligon's), with a chance to smell the perfumes he mentions. Ages 16+. Booking is essential.

Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the death of poet, artist and naturalist Alexander Wilson.