Political commentator Don Watson and physicist Paul Davies are two of the keynote speakers as part of Sophie Black’s first Festival of Ideas as Director.
The Adelaide Festival of Ideas partners with the Adelaide Film Festival for the first time this year with the theme of ‘lean in’. Black said the Festival would be dedicated to Professor Davies, the author of The Eerie Silence: Renewing our Search for Alien Intelligence, How to Build a Time Machine and The Mind of God. “Paul Davies embodies the spirit of big thinking that the Adelaide Festival of Ideas has always championed,” Black said in a press release. “It doesn’t get much bigger than the nature of time, or the search for life in the universe. Prof Davies’ research interests have centered around brain melting concepts such as the origin of the universe to the origin of life.” The full program will be released on Tuesday, September 17. Also among today’s announcements is that of the closing night speaker Don Watson. The former political advisor is the author of Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM and Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words. “In the shadow of the federal election, Don Watson is set to deliver a clear eyed assessment about where our politics has gone wrong,” Black explained. “As the public tune out and turn off, Watson will ask why our politics has turned so toxic.” Other international guests include urbanist, walkability advocate, architect and author Jeff Speck (US), Swedish professor of International Business at the Stockholm School of Economics, Professor Örjan Sölvell and psychotherapist Gary Greenberg (US). The Adelaide Festival of Ideas runs from Thursday, October 17 to Sunday, October 20. Professor Davies will present ‘Ideas Whose Time Has Come: From Cosmology to Cancer on Thursday, October 17 at Freemason’s Hall at 6.30pm. Don Watson’s keynote address will be held at Bonython Hall on Sunday, October 20 at 5pm. For more information and tickets head to adelaidefestivalofideas.com
