Bookings open for Cambridge Festival of Ideas

The Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2012 has over 170 events, most of them free, which celebrate what the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences have to offer. "We are really excited about the range of events on offer this year. Every year attendance at the Festival has risen and last year over 12,000 people participated." - —Malavika Anderson - Bookings open today for this year's Cambridge Festival of Ideas - a 12-day celebration of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences with speakers ranging from Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, writer Martin Jacques, poet Benjamin Zephaniah and Charlie and Lola writer Lauren Child. Academics taking part include Lord Robert May, US historian Professor David Reynolds, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Professor Nicky Clayton, a neuroscientist investigating crow behaviour who is also working with the Rambert Ballet. Most of the over 170 events at the Festival, which runs from 24 October to 4 November, are free, but pre-booking is recommended for many of the most popular ones. The Festival, now in its fourth year, aims to open the doors of the University of Cambridge and the University of East Anglia to the public and to showcase the wealth of subjects covered by the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It includes debates, film screenings, interactive workshops and debates on topics as diverse as the US elections, social media and privacy, the future of the Arab Spring and the demographic time bomb of Britain's growing pensioner population, chaired by the Financial Times' economics editor Chris Giles.