New College Festival Programme

Join author and poet Jenni Daiches (Calder) in conversation with playwright, director and podcaster David Neville in our opening event for the 2024 New College Festival of Books and Belief. 

Her beautiful new novel ‘Somewhere Else’ covers multiple generations as it explores womanhood and Judaeo-Scottish experience across two World Wars, the creation of Israel and the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is a novel that explores today’s most difficult and urgent questions, not least of which: how to find identity in displacement. 

This event is sponsored by the Edinburgh Jewish Literary Society, the Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre and the Edinburgh Jewish Studies research group at the University of Edinburgh, and chaired by Hannah Holtschneider. 

Biblical scholar, writer and broadcaster Francesca Stavrakopoulou joins us at New College to speak about her work on the Hebrew Bible and its social and political milieu, her recent  book ‘God: An Anatomy,’ and where her interests are taking her now. 

This event will be chaired by Madhavi Nevader and is sponsored by the Biblical Studies seminar series at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, in association with the Biblical Time Machine Podcast.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is renowned for his work in Ancient History and Persian Studies, and we are thrilled to welcome him to speak about his new book, ‘The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt’ (EUP, 2024). 

This event will be chaired by Helen Bond and is sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins (CSCO), in association with the Biblical Time Machine podcast.

Bruce Ritchie joins Michael Fuller to speak about his newest book, 'James Clark Maxwell: Faith, Church, Physics’. 

The book addresses the life and scientific work of the renowned Scottish physicist, focusing on Maxwell's faith and examining many of the scientific, philosophical and religious questions which Maxwell encountered in the mid-19th century. 

Ritchie will also be speaking about some of his past books, including ‘Columba: The faith of an Island Soldier’, which examines the theology of Columba of Iona; ‘T.F. Torrance in Recollection and Reappraisal’, in which he examines Torrance’s theology, especially as it impacted his own theological understanding; and ‘Five Weeks in the Land’, an extended journal documenting time spent in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, including conversations with people from all parts of society in the region.

We are delighted to welcome scholar, writer, broadcaster and public intellectual Ziauddin Sardar to New College. In this event, chaired by Shadaab Rahemtulla, Ziauddin will speak about his life and work as a leading British Muslim thinker, cultural critic, and futurist. 

This event is sponsored by the University of Edinburgh’s Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (ICMR) programme and the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World.

Sarah C. Williams joins us to speak about her new book ‘When Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women’ (Hodder Faith, 2024), a vital exploration into a pioneering feminist activist's personal, spiritual and political life.

This event is sponsored by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI), and will be chaired by Bethany Sollereder.

Join poets Janette Ayachi, Samuel Tongue, and Niall O’Gallagher in conversation with the editors of ‘Scottish Religious Poetry: From the Sixth Century to the Present’ (Saint Andrew Press, 2024), for a discussion about Scotland’s rich and diverse tradition of religious poetry, which might (in the words of Malcolm Guite) ‘renew and deepen our vision of the world’.

This event is sponsored by the Scottish Network for Religion and Literature, and chaired by the editors of the volume, Alison Jack, Linden Bicket and Emma Dymock.

Author, poet and scholar Anthony V. Capildeo joins us to speak about their life and work, their inspiration and their creative collaborations. 

Readers of Capildeo’s works are moved by the depth of feeling conveyed by their prose and poetry, snippets of which we will hear at this event. 

Capildeo will be interviewed by Sara Parvis.

We welcome Anna Katharina Schaffner to New College to speak about her inspiring research into how we can circumvent and overcome burnout and exhaustion. 

Anna presents her readers and listeners with inspiring advice and real-life, practical steps for improving our relationships to work, rest, and the people around us. 

This event will be chaired by Jeremy Carrette.