Connecting people and ideas through conversations that inspire
Our Themes
We organise inspiring conversations with authors and thinkers throughout the year (see Our Next Talks section below). And we also independently handpick events organised by our favourite local bookshops and venues taking place in and around Bristol that fall under one of our below three themes (see All The Talks section).
Nature
Replenishing and reconnecting with the natural world
Nurture
Caring for our community, culture, and society
Nourish
Developing and expanding our minds and souls
Our Next Talks
2026
Thursday 16th April
7.30pm
Clifton Community Bookshop
Sophie Pavelle
To have or to hold: nature’s hidden relationships
Join us for a conversation in the bookshop with Sophie about her latest book, which featured on the 2025 Wainwright Prize Longlist for Conservation Writing.
Tuesday 26th May
7.30pm
Bristol Folk House
Jay Griffiths
Wild Medicine
Join us for a revelatory and exuberant discussion between award-winning authors Jay Griffiths and Michael Malay about our relationship to the living world: mischievous, vital and wild.
Tuesday 28th July
7.30pm
Bristol Folk House
Natalie Bennett
Change Everything: How We Can Rethink, Repair, and Rebuild Society
Natalie (Green Party member of the House of Lords) will be discussing her latest book with Andrew Kelly (former Director of Bristol Ideas).
All The Talks
March
Saturday 7th
10.30am
St George’s
Philosophical Times
Join the philosopher Rebecca Buxton as she explores some of the big ideas that connect with and emerge from this week’s news stories.
Wednesday 11th
6pm
Arnolfini
Finding Sanctuary in Music
Inside the work of Dovetail Orchestra
What is it about making music together that provides an immediate sense of belonging, dignity, and connection? And how does Dovetail Orchestra, a charity based in Bristol, Cardiff, and London, make the most of that potential?
Wednesday 11th
6pm
bookhaus
Folklore of Trees
Aidan Meighan
Aidan will be discussing his beautifully illustrated guide uncovering the myths, legends, and superstitions behind 36 iconic trees.
Sunday 15th
10.30am
Bristol Museum
Bristol Museum Morning Yoga
Sunday morning yoga in the Enlightenment Gallery.
Monday 16th
6.30pm
St George’s
Silence in Music & Philosophy
What role does silence have in music, philosophy, wellbeing, and language? This event will explore how silence is used in music composition and performance, in speech and language, and in mindfulness practice.
Tuesday 17th
7pm
Waterstones
An Evening with Oliver Bullough
Everybody Loves Our Dollars
The investigative journalist Oliver Bullough, author of the bestselling Moneyland, will discuss the dark flipside of the global economy.
Tuesday 17th
7pm
The Forum, Bath
Don McCullin
Yes, we know it’s not in Bristol, but Don McCullin will be reflecting on his remarkable career. And it’s likely that he’ll say wise things. And Bath isn’t so far away...
Thursday 26th
7.30pm
Bristol Beacon
Hay Festival After Hours
Rana Dasgupta, Zakia Sewell and Vanessa Kisuule
An evening of words, ideas and reimagined worlds, this special Hay Festival event brings together these three vital voices in poetry, politics and cultural storytelling.
Saturday 28th
10.30am
The Cube
Kind of Blue: an Essay on Melancholia and Depression
C G Jung Lectures
A deeply stirring and poetic film-essay featuring James Hillman defending the notion that feeling ‘blue’ isn’t to be avoided at all costs, but embraced, as the Ancients did. Screening followed by discussion with director Mark Kidel.
April
Friday 17th
7pm
Waterstones
Joanna Nadin
After Darcy
Jo (one of our former Bristol Talks guests) will be discussing her latest book!
Tuesday 21st
8pm
Bristol Beacon
Michael Morpurgo
Always Take Notes Podcast
One of the UK’s best-loved authors, Michael Morpurgo will be in conversation with the Always Take Notes podcast live in Bristol.
Thursday 23rd
7.30pm
The Cube
Ben Haggarty & Steph Brittain
Bodies On The Beach – The Last Battles Of Fionn MacCumhaill
Step into a maelstrom of myth, as storytellers Ben Haggarty and Steph Brittain pick through fragments of voices, medieval manuscript, and song to piece together a story of love, loss and destiny – a Celtic Iliad.
Sunday 26th
1pm
The Cube
Utopias (& Dystopias)
Bristol Radical History Group
A magical mystery tour of utopian thinking from the Medieval period, through the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries…and even beyond to 2087 Avonmouth!
May
Tuesday 5th
7pm
Bristol Beacon
Slavoj Žižek
On Liberal Fascism
Žižek will examine the idea of ‘liberal fascism’, the fractures of the so-called post-truth age, and the forms of justice that might still be possible amid chaos.
Tuesday 5th
6pm
Heron Books
Eloise Kane
Wilderlands – The Human History of Wild Britain
Eloise will be discussing her book that journeys through the unexpectedly human history of wild Britain and unearths 12,000 years of our changing relationship with the landscape.
June
Tuesday 16th
6pm
Heron Books
Tom Cox
Everything Will Swallow You
Heron welcome Tom Cox to discuss his latest novel as part of Independent Bookshop Week.
Monday 22nd
7.30pm
St George’s
David Olusoga
BBC Celebrity Traitors faithful finalist, and BAFTA award-winning producer, writer, historian, Professor David Olusoga will be presenting his new history talk.
September
Saturday 19th
7.30pm
St George’s
Anthony Scaramucci
The former White House Communications Director turned outspoken Trump critic and host of The Rest is Politics: U.S. comes to Bristol (among other UK venues) to offer an insider’s account of how America reached this moment and to offer a hopeful message for how it might find a way back.
Get in touch
If you’d like to organise an inspiring conversation please use the form or email us at: hello@bristoltalks.co.uk
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Founded by Eugene and Megan in the summer of 2024