The co-founder of the Hay Festival recommends books to spark debate and change minds. He is director of a new series of events, The Conversation, at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Underland
A wondrous book about landscape and the living world that may change for ever and for better how we see our planet and our place here. Give it to everyone you love. Hell, give it to everyone you meet.
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Two Sisters
Åsne Seierstad, 2016
As in her unsparing study of the terrorist Anders Breivik, "One of Us", the Norwegian war reporter and investigative journalist takes us deep into the violent radicalisation of young Westerners, and their journeys out of the societies they grew up in and into the Syrian jihad.
The Lives of the Caesars
Suetonius, translated by Tom Holland, 2025
Today's Washington has nothing on Suetonius's Ancient Rome. You want to see crazy power run wild? Tom Holland brings his dearest "Father of the Show" into vivid, glorious English in this new translation.
The Wife of Bath: A Biography
Marion Turner, 2023
A love letter to Chaucer's favourite pilgrim, the fabulous and insatiable woman who is at the heart of "The Canterbury Tales". A book as bawdy and brilliant and celebratory as she is.
The Lorax
Dr Seuss, 1971
"Unless...". This is how to do it: irresistible language and storytelling, utterly persuasive eco-politics. We plant the Festivals Forest in Iceland because he wrote about truffula trees.
A Barrister for the Earth
Monica Feria-Tinta, published in April
Change needs everyone from protesters rebelling to CEOs and politicians reversing policy. Most of all it needs us to assess priorities. And it needs lawyers such as Monica Feria-Tinta to call and fight for the rights of the voiceless. This is how to do it too.
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5 thin-skinned cartoons about shooting the messengerCartoons Artists take on unfavorable weather, a look in the mirror, and more
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Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
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A tour of southern GreenlandThe Week Recommends New international airport has given this 'bucolic' island a welcome boost
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A tour of southern Greenland
The Week Recommends New international airport has given this 'bucolic' island a welcome boost
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Bonnie Blue: taking clickbait to extremesTalking Point Channel 4 claims documentary on the adult performer's attention-grabbing sex stunts is opening up a debate
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Broccoli and lentil salad with curried tahini and dates recipeThe Week Recommends Flavoursome and healthy, this creamy salad is perfect as part of a mezze
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Savages: a tragi-comedy set in a 'quirky handcrafted world'The Week Recommends This new animated film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Claude Barras is undeniably political, but it has a hopeful message
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Merryn Somerset Webb chooses five books on how the world worksThe Week Recommends The financial columnist picks works by Peter Turchin, Adam Smith and Christopher Clark
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6 sturdy post-and-beam homesFeature Featuring a wood stove in New York and hand-hewn beams in New Hampshire
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The Naked Gun: 'a dumb comedy of the expert kind'The Week Recommends Liam Neeson shows off his comedy chops in this reboot of Leslie Nielsen's crime spoof
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King of Kings: 'excellent' book examines Iran's 1979 revolution and its global impactsThe Week Recommends Scott Anderson 'easily and elegantly' paints a picture of a century of Iran's history
