Author Talk

We are very excited to host Eloise Kane to celebrate her new book Wilderlands: The Human History of Wild Britain. Please join us for a discussion of the book, followed by a Q&A and book signing. The event is free but please RSVP to read@heronbooks.co.uk. Space is limited and in demand! About the book When was Britain last truly wild? And what, if anything, remains? This is the unexpectedly human history of wild Britain. Eloise Kane unearths 12,000 years of our changing relationship with and influence on the landscape. Through prehistory, Roman occupation, the Middle Ages and beyond, we see the unfamiliar beasts of our old wild make way for species such as brown hare and fallow deer, now romanticised as eternal symbols of the British countryside, but introduced much later than we might think. Places free from our influence haven't existed for a very long time. But Eloise Kane invites us to rethink our definition of the wild - not as separate from us. Seen anew as the result of millions of human lives lived, Wilderlands demonstrates how we are integral to the ecology and biodiversity of our land, with the power to shape its future. About the author Eloise Kane is an archaeologist. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Royal Agricultural University, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and previously served as Honorary Treasurer of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology. Her research interests are in landscape, environmental, and animal history/archaeology – historic parks, hunting landscapes, country houses, woodlands, animal sports, and the relationship between humans and the wild. She lives on the edge of Salisbury Plain with a small menagerie of children and beasts.

We are very pleased to support this event organised by Bristol Talks with Jay Griffiths and Michael Malay: a revelatory and exuberant discussion about our relationship to the living world, mischievous, vital and wild.

Jay has written several award-winning books, including Wild: An Elemental Journey and Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time. In her latest work, How Animals Heal Us, she explores how animals heal us as individuals with their vitality, humour and empathy. They offer social remedies too: wolves may be teachers of ethics; bees take collective decisions and monkeys have a sense of justice.

In conversation with celebrated local author of Late Light, Michael Malay, Jay will reflect on the big questions that have always permeated her writing, considering time and the rich wisdoms of Indigenous cultures, and the necessity of challenging the status quo.

Doors open at 7pm. The Folk House bar will be open and we will provide a book stall. The talk is from 7.30-8.30pm. Tickets are available from the Bristol Talks website. 

Organised by the Bristol Humanists, we are pleased to support: 

Energy is Life: Why Environmentalism Went Nuclear, Zion Lights’ personal and powerful journey: from grassroots green activism to becoming one of the UK’s leading advocates for nuclear energy

In a time of climate crisis, energy poverty and growing demand for clean power, she examines why long-established environmentalists like herself once feared nuclear energy, why many have since come to embrace it, and she makes a compelling case for why nuclear energy must be part of the solution. Accessible, evidence-based, and deeply human, there is a challenge to common myths and an invitation for people to rethink what it really means to care for others and the planet alike. If you believe in a greener, fairer future, Energy is Life just might change your mind – and give you hope.
Zion Lights, a patron of Humanists UK, is an award-winning science communicator and environmental advocate who makes complex science clear and compelling. She explores energy, climate, and technology through the lens of human challenges, showing how curiosity and evidence can shape a better future. She will combine technical clarity with a sense of wonder, helping us to see the big questions and the choices that define our civilisation.
Further details: https://www.meetup.com/bristol-humanists/events/313940581/?isFirstPublish=true

In George Orwell’s 1984, a totalitarian party slogan is “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Is this true today, in Russia and in the Middle East? Are historical narratives being manipulated to justify war? In this salon, we’ll dig into the deep histories behind the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Your host, philosopher Julian Baggini is joined by journalist and writer James Rodgers, author of The Return of Russia, and Michael Scott-Baumann, author of Palestinians and Israelis: A Short History of Conflict. They’ll be looking at how historical narratives, mixing truth and fiction, shape foreign policy and even lead to war. They will also be looking at whether the laws-based international order is dead, if it was ever alive, what the morally right thing for countries such as our own is, and whether the idea of an ethical foreign policy has any reality. After a break for you to get a drink and gather your thoughts, the second half will be led by your questions and contributions.

BBC Celebrity Traitors faithful finalist, and BAFTA award-winning producer, writer, historian, Professor David Olusoga will be presenting his new history talk at St George's. We are delighted to host a book stall and signing at the event; full details and tickets on the St George's website. We look forward to seeing you there. 

David is the author or co-author of eight books including Black & British: A Forgotten History, The World’s War, Black & British A Short Essential History, The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism.

Recently also seen in BBC2's Empire documentaries, David continues to examine history in depth. Often bringing to light uncomfortable subjects and little-known facts. He uncovers how and why some events and some people are remembered and others forgotten. Taking examples from wars across the world, the British industrial revolution, and other pivotal moments in global history, he uncovers so much that has remained hidden and untaught.

David also writes and presents the long-running BBC history series A House Through Time. Presently he is filming a new series, due for broadcast in April 2026.

Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, and a columnist for The Observer, David also writes for The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Voice and BBC History Magazine.
A recipient of both the British Academy’s President’s Medal and the Norton Medlicott Medal For Services to History, David is a Fellow of the British Academy, The Royal Society of Literature, The Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Historical Society.

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. More details to follow. Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and an elected Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. He has been awarded the Osman Hill Medal and the Huxley Medal. His popular science books include The Human Story, How Many Friends Does One Person Need? and Human Evolution, and have been translated into a dozen languages.

We look forward to supporting this event organised by the Bristol Humanists: Sian Norris on Bodies Under Siege: How the Far–Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global Sian is a writer, journalist and copywriter specialising in reporting and investigations into women's rights – with a particular focus on reproductive rights and ending men's violence against women. 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. More details to follow.

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.

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.