5x15

Johny Pitts is the founder of Afropean.com, an online user-generated journal which is part of the Guardian’s ‘Africa Network’. In October 2018, Pitts organised the Looking B(l)ack Symposium at the Bozar cultural centre in Brussels, which was a weekend of talks and performances dedicated to the notion of Black Travel. Pitts has received various awards for his work exploring African-European identity, including a Decibel Penguin Prize and an ENAR (European Network Against Racism) award. In 2012, Pitts collaborated with Caryl Phillips on a photographic essay about London’s immigrant communities for the BBC and Arts Council. His new book is Afropean: Notes on Black Europe. 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: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Jonathan Freedland is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, who also writes bestselling novels under the pseudonym, Sam Bourne. Jonathan writes for the Guardian, the New York Times and New York Review of Books, and has a monthly column in the Jewish Chronicle. He also presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series, The Long View. Jonathan was named Columnist of the Year in the annual What the Papers Say Awards of 2002 and in 2008 he was awarded the David Watt prize for journalism. He has also been awarded The Orwell Special Prize for his contribution to political journalism (2014). The Righteous Men, Sam Bourne's first novel, was an international bestseller and was selected as one of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads. He has continued this success with a series of bestselling thrillers and has sold over a million copies in the UK alone. His latest Sam Bourne book is To Kill The Truth. Recorded live at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill on the 17th June 2019. 5x15 brings together five outstanding indivi

Join 5x15 on a mind-altering adventure with the pioneering, genre-busting writer Michael Pollan in conversation with John Crace. Delving into states of consciousness, looking at the latest brain science and visiting the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists, we’ll immerse ourselves in what is a major new field of therapeutic research. In his thrilling chronicle How to Change Your Mind, we meet the scientists, professionals, seekers and patients exploring the effects of LSD on the mind, creativity and personal experience and discover what the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence. A profound shift in the public discussion around psychedelics and their positive, therapeutic affects is taking place across the US and UK. It has always been clear that psychedelics offer a paradigm shifting tool, and now with increased funding, psychedelic research is becoming mainstream. It is set to have a major impact on science and psychi

Professor Dame Sue Black is a leading forensic anthropologist and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University. She confronts death every day. As a professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology, she focuses on mortal remains in her lab, at burial sites, at scenes of violence, murder and criminal dismemberment, and when investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident or natural disaster. In her best-selling book All That Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and examining what her life and work has taught her. Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light. 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/5x15sto

Raymond Antrobus was born in London to an English mother and Jamaican father, and is the author of To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press) and The Perseverance (Penned In The Margins) which was awarded the UK Poetry Book Society’s Winter Choice in 2018 and was named a poetry book of the year by The Guardian and The Sunday Times as well as being awarded the Ted Hughes award in 2019 and Rathbones Folio award in 2019. He’s also the author of children’s picture book, Bears Can Ski, which will be published by Walker Books and illustrated by Polly Dunbar in April 2020. His poetry has previously been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poets.org, The Deaf Poets Society, News Statesman, The Guardian among others. He is a founding member of Chill Pill and Keats House Poets Forum. @RaymondAntrobus 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: ww

Johann Hari is an internationally bestselling author. His first book, Chasing the Scream, was a New York Times bestseller and is being adapted into a Hollywood feature film. His second book, Lost Connections, was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and it looks at the underlying causes of depression. He has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde and others, and he was twice named Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International. His TED Talk, ‘Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong’, and the animation based on it, have had more than twenty million views. His books have been translated into eighteen languages. @johannhari101 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

Gina Miller was the lead claimant in the 2016 constitutional legal case against the UK Government over triggering Article 50. Born and raised in Guyana, she went to boarding school in England at the age of eleven and went on to study Law at the University of East London, then Marketing at the University of North London. In 2009, she and her husband Alan Miller co-founded SCM Direct, a disruptive investment management company, and the True and Fair Foundation, the latter of which provides funding and support to smaller charities. She has three children. Gina counts herself as a conscious capitalist and believes we all have a duty to give back to the society that affords us success, including actively stepping up and defending what is right. @thatginamiller 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

Judith Kerr was born on 14 June 1923 in Berlin but escaped from Hitler's Germany with her parents and brother in 1933 when she was nine years old. Her father was a drama critic and a distinguished writer whose books were burned by the Nazis. The family passed through Switzerland and France before arriving finally in England in 1936. Judith went to eleven different schools, worked in the Red Cross during the war, and won a scholarship to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1945. Since then she has worked as an artist, a BBC television scriptwriter and, for the past thirty years, as author and illustrator of children's books. Her three autobiographical novels are based on her early wandering years (which against all the odds she greatly enjoyed), her adolescence in London during the war, and finally on a brief return to Berlin as a young married woman. The stories have been internationally acclaimed and, to the author's considerable satisfaction, have done particularly well in Germany where they are someti

Revolution can’t take its poetry from the past – but only from the future. On 14th May, at EartH Hackney, philosopher and activist Srećko Horvat was in conversation with the experimentalist, activist and artist Brian Eno, to discuss Horvat's new book Poetry From the Future. Is a global liberation movement the only way to save humanity? Poetry From the Future draws on myriad sources from contemporary culture, historical archives and stories of resistance from Horvat's own island in Croatia, as well as the partisan liberation movements of Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, refugee camps and political frontlines of 21st century Europe, to argue that we need to move beyond borders, national identities and the redundant narratives of the past. What is the role of the arts in how we understand politics or history? How can hidden narratives be brought to light? Are we as free as we like to think? How does film, documentary, art or music help us to see the world anew and how important is that now? Faced with our last chance,

Judith Kerr's moving talk about marriage and her husband. Judith Kerr was born on 14 June 1923 in Berlin but escaped from Hitler's Germany with her parents and brother in 1933 when she was nine years old. Her father was a drama critic and a distinguished writer whose books were burned by the Nazis. The family passed through Switzerland and France before arriving finally in England in 1936. Judith went to eleven different schools, worked in the Red Cross during the war, and won a scholarship to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1945. Since then she has worked as an artist, a BBC television scriptwriter and, for the past thirty years, as author and illustrator of children's books. Her three autobiographical novels are based on her early wandering years (which against all the odds she greatly enjoyed), her adolescence in London during the war, and finally on a brief return to Berlin as a young married woman. The stories have been internationally acclaimed and, to the author's considerable satisfaction, h

Melissa Benn is a writer, journalist and campaigner. She was educated at Holland Park comprehensive and the London School of Economics where she graduated with a First in history. Her essays and journalism have appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Independent, The Times, Marxism Today, the London Review of Books and Cosmopolitan. A speaker and broadcaster, Benn is a regular contributor to The Guardian and New Statesman, and has written several acclaimed books, including School Wars: The Battle for Britain’s Education (2011), What Should We Tell Our Daughters? (2014) and The Truth About Our Schools (2016). Her latest, Life Lessons (2018) ‘is an eloquent and much needed blueprint for a more equitable education system.’ @melissa_benn Recorded live at Wilton's Music Hall London in April 2019. 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: 5x15s

As the news becomes ever more outlandish, how do we make sense of our current historical predicament and where are we heading? Cult American novelist Jarett Kobek has written a hilarious and provocative satire for our times: Only Americans Burn in Hell. Here at 5x15 he takes part in an unmissable conversation with acclaimed stand up comedian and writer Stewart Lee: an expert in satire this side of the Atlantic, and creator of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. The book is set in 2019 and America is ruled over by a billionaire reality TV star. The media is owned by a transnational class of the shameless and the depraved. And the people have been silently robbed of their wealth, their dignity and their democracy. In this brave new world, going to see a superhero movie counts as activism, and arguing with the other serfs on social media is political engagement. BUT EVERYTHING’S FINE - as long as you never, ever ask yourself who makes money from the ticket sales and the ratings, or who owns Twitter... "Jarett Kobek

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and the most widely read female author in Turkey. She writes in both Turkish and English, and has published seventeen books, eleven of which are novels. Her work has been translated into fifty languages. Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She is a member of Weforum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy and a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). An advocate for women's rights, LGBT rights and freedom of speech, Shafak contributes to major publications around the world and she has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. www.elifshafak.com Recorded live at the EartH in London's Hackney on 19th March 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.

Farah Chamma is Dubai-born Palestinian performer. She mainly writes and performs poetry in Arabic, English and French. She is currently doing an MA in Performance and Culture at Goldsmiths University in London. Her current goal is to create Arabic content that mixes Modern Standard Arabic (fus-ha) and colloquial Arabic. Recorded live at the EartH in London's Hackney on 19th March 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Philippe Sands QC is Professor of Law at University College London and a practising barrister at Matrix Chambers. Here he talks about his friend Ahmet Altan and his book: I Will Never See the World Again, written from inside a maximum security prison in Turkey. Philippe appears before many international courts and tribunals, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and sits as an arbitrator at ICSID, the PCA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Philippe is the author of Lawless World (2005) and Torture Team (2008) and several academic books on international law, and has contributed to the New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, the Financial Times and The Guardian. East West Street: On the Origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide (Alfred Knopf/Weidenfeld & Nicolson) won the 2016 Baillie Gifford (formerly Samuel Johnson) Prize, the 2017 British Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and the 2018 Prix Montaigne. The book is accompanied by a prizewinning B

Martin Rees is Astronomer Royal, and has been Master of Trinity College and Director of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. As a member of the UK’s House of Lords and former President of the Royal Society, he is much involved in international science and issues of technological risk. His books include Our Cosmic Habitat (Princeton), Just Six Numbers, and Our Final Hour (published in the UK as Our Final Century). His latest book is a provocative and inspiring look at the future of humanity - On the Future: Prospects for Humanity (Princeton). Recorded live at the EartH in London's Hackney on 19th March 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

obert Elms is a broadcaster and writer, well-loved for his eponymous radio show on BBC Radio London. Elms started out as a journalist, writing for The Face and NME. He is a Londoner through and through, growing up in West London and living in the city for most of his life. Elms is the author of two previous works of non-fiction, The Way We Wore: A Life in Threads and Spain: A Portrait After the General, and a novel, In Search of the Crack. His new book is London Made Us: A Memoir of a Shapeshifting City. In the book Elms takes us back through time and place to myriad Londons. ‘London is a giant kaleidoscope, which is forever turning. Take your eye off it for more than a moment and you’re lost.’ Recorded live at the EartH in London's Hackney on 19th March 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com

Philippa Perry has been a psychotherapist for the past twenty years. Her latest book is: The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will be Glad That You Did). A faculty member of The School of Life, she is also an agony aunt for Red Magazine, a freelance writer, and a TV and radio presenter she has presented several documentaries including The Truth about Children Who Lie for BBC Radio 4 and Being Bipolar for Channel 4. Philippa featured in the highly popular dating show, Celebs Go Dating, where she used her expertise to give the celebrities such much needed love advice. She has also written two other books: Couch Fiction, a Graphic Tale of Psychotherapy and How to Stay Sane. She lives in London with her husband, the artist and campaigner Grayson Perry, and her cat Kevin. They have one grown up daughter, Flo. Recorded live at the Tabernacle in London's Notting Hill on 11th March 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn mo

James Harding is the Co-founder and Editor of Tortoise Media, and prior to this was Director of News and Current Affairs at the BBC, the world’s largest news organisation. He was the Editor of The Times from 2007-2012, winning the Newspaper of the Year in two of the five years he edited the paper. He was previously The Times Business Editor, having joined from The Financial Times, where he worked as Washington Bureau Chief, Media Editor and China correspondent opening the paper's bureau in Shanghai in 1996. He is the author of Alpha Dogs- How political spin became a global business and he presented On Background on the BBC World Service with Zanny Minton-Beddoes, editor of The Economist. Recorded live at the Tabernacle in London's Notting Hill on 25th February 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instag

Baroness Helena Kennedy is one of Britain's most distinguished lawyers. She has spent her professional life giving voice to those who have least power within the system, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights. She has used many public platforms – including the House of Lords to argue with passion, wit and humanity for social justice. She has also written and broadcast on a wide range of issues, from medical negligence to terrorism to the rights of women and children. Her latest book is Eve Was Shamed: How British Justice is Failing Women. Recorded live at the Tabernacle in London's Notting Hill on 25th February 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories