麻豆社

"What is the Free Thinking festival for?"

Jon Jacob seeks answers

See the festival through the maverick lens of Jon Jacob

Contributors

• Contributor

  Felix Barrett

  Artistic Director, Punchdrunk

  Felix graduated from Exeter University with a 1st Class BA in Drama. He founded Punchdrunk in 1999 and has since staged 15 productions with the company at disused, historic and other sites across London and the south west of England. He has lectured in drama at Exeter University and worked as staff producer and revival director for English Touring Opera.

  23 Free Thinkers: "What's theatre for?"

• Alan Bleasdale

  Alan Bleasdale

  Writer

  10 Boys from the Blackstuff

• Peter Blegvad. Photo credit Jillian Edelstein.

  Peter Blegvad

  Peter Blegvad 茂驴陆 Artist, writer, musician, performer, broadcaster. Born New York City, 1951. Lives in London.

  Blegvad is Honorary Teaching Fellow in the creative writing programme at Warwick University where he is also course leader in creative writing for the National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth.

  From 1991 to 1998 he drew the weekly comic strip 'The Book of Leviathan' for the Independent on Sunday. He has performed and recorded with many bands and musicians and is the resident 'Eartoonist' for Radio 3's 'The Verb'.

  He currently draws, sporadically, for The Spectator and has a monthly cartoon. 茂驴陆State of the Art茂驴陆, in Word magazine.

  3 The Verb

  Watch and listen to Peter Blegvad's animated eartoon created especially for the festival.

• Gemma Bodinetz. Copyright Stephanie De Leng.

  Gemma Bodinetz

  Gemma Bodinetz took up her post as Artistic Director for the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse in September 2003.

  Gemma previously worked at The Royal Court Theatre, London, leaving briefly to assist Harold Pinter on 'The Caretaker' before returning to co-direct 'Hush' with Max Stafford-Clark. She then moved on to become freelance director and Associate Director at Hampstead Theatre.

  23 What's theatre for?

• Peter Butler.

  Peter Butler

  Surgeon

  17 Britain's First face transplant

  For more information about Face Reconstruction visit

• Professor Tom Cannon

  Professor Tom Cannon

  Economic strategist with a focus on the future of cities.
  Born in Liverpool, Tom has had an unusually diverse career: in academia, leading business schools in Stirling, Manchester and currently Buckingham; in business, as a brand manager and running his own research company; and in government, running a key government agency advising on business and management education.

  29 People's Choice

  Listen and vote for the People's Choice debate

• Kate Clanchy

  Kate Clanchy

  Kate Clanchy taught English for ten years in state schools before becoming a freelance writer and a mother. She is the author of three poetry collections and also writes Comment for the Guardian.

  22 Whatever happened to Childhood?

• Philip Collins

  Philip Collins

  Philip Collins was, until July 2007, Chief Speech Writer to the Prime Minister. Prior to that, he was Director of the Social Market Foundation, an independent think-tank and charity. He has also worked in TV and as a teacher and academic, and published two novels and a number of academic books. He is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics.

  6 Rhetoric in a prosaic age

  11 Are we freer than we think?

• Frank Cotterell-Boyce

  Frank Cotterell-Boyce

  Screenwriter

  28 Is this the Brave New World?

• Siobhan Davies. Copyright Gautier Deblonde.

  Siobhan Davies

  Siobhan Davies is one of the leading dancers and choreographers of her generation. She founded the Siobhan Davies Dance Company in 1988 and their work has been recognised by many awards.

  8 A gesture is worth a thousand words.

• Jane Davis

  Jane Davis

  Jane Davis left school at sixteen and became a single mother. After working as a waitress she returned to education and gained a first class degree in English. She founded The Reader magazine ten years ago and is now Director of The Reader Organisation, which exists to promote reading for pleasure at every level.

  29 People's Choice

  Listen and vote for the People's Choice debate

• Paul Farley

  Paul Farley

  Writer / performer

  3 The Verb

• Mike Figgis

  Mike Figgis

  Film-maker

  14 Is there too much culture?

• Liam Fogarty

  Liam Fogarty

  Liam Fogarty is a Liverpool-based journalist and broadcaster. He also leads the campaign for the city to have a London-style Elected Mayor.

  29 People's Choice

  Listen and vote for the People's Choice debate

• Ronald Fraser-Munroe

  Ronald Fraser-Munroe

  Writer, performance and digital artist.

  Ongoing events

• Tim Gill

  Tim Gill

  Tim Gill's work focuses on children's play and free time. He was formerly Director of the Children's Play Council (now Play England), and is author of a new book No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society.

  22 Whatever happened to childhood?

• Jean Grant

  Jean Grant

  Jean Grant is an artist working practically and experientially with the ecology of communities in areas of regeneration - listening to them, walking and socialising and developing ways to communicate their understanding of their neighbourhoods.
  Jean works as creative director of 'pool, a registered charity which publishes pamphlets about the city past and future, arranges a series of walks and picnics and facilitates several large annual events using the forgotten histories of the city to inform future developments.

  20 Walk: Freedom of the city

• Sarah Hall

  Sarah Hall

  Novelist

  28 Is this the Brave New World?

• Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe

  Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe

  11 Are we Freer than we think?

• Gloria Hyatt MBE

  Gloria Hyatt MBE

  Pioneer of the UK's first black-led Independent School.

  30 Have we destroyed equality?

• Jennifer John

  Jennifer John

  Singer

  19 Words and Music

• James Jones

  James Jones

  Bishop of Liverpool

  30 Have we destroyed the dream of equality?

• Tom Loosemore

  Tom Loosemore

  Tom joined Ofcom as Senior Advisor, Digital Media in September 2007.At Ofcom he is leading the thinking on the role of interactive media in public service broadcasting. Previously he was at the forefront of much of the 麻豆社's digital media strategy after joining the corporation in 2001 as Head of Broadband. He was one of the authors of 'Building Public Value', the 麻豆社's strategic vision for the next ten years, and most recently lead a major review of the 麻豆社's activities on the Web. Prior to joining the 麻豆社, Tom was Director of Internet Applications at UPC, Europe's largest cable company. He was web editor at Capital Radio, created the 麻豆社's first message boards and in 1998 launched the local information website UpMyStreet.com. From 1995 until 1997 he was a journalist on the UK edition of Wired Magazine.

  Outside of work he has been responsible for a raft of e-democracy and civic engagement websites such as and .

  5 The fragile diversity of the internet

• Ian McMillan

  Ian McMillan

  Writer and broadcaster

  3 The Verb

  Radio 3 presenter

  The Verb on Radio 3

  Listen to Ian's Thought for the Day on freedom

• Munira Mirza

  Munira Mirza

  Writer

  30 Have we destroyed the dream of equality?

• David O'Brien

  David O'Brien

  Headmaster at St Teresa's Catholic Primary School in Norris Green, Liverpool. Formerly a senior inspector with Ofsted in the Salford diocese.

  22 Whatever happened to childhood?

• Kirsten O'Brien

  Kirsten O'Brien

  Presenter

  24 Go4it

• Contributor

  Iztok Osojnik

  (Born 1951 in Ljubljana, Slovenia), poet, translator, artist, tour director, mountain climber. He published 24 books of poetry, 4 novels and 2 books of essays, as well as 3 books of poetry in English: Alluminations, And Some Things Happen for the First Time (Modry Peter, Canada 2001) and Mister Today (Jacaranda Press, California 2004). His poems and essays were translated and published in 20 languages. Recipient of national and international awards

  Haiku

• Anne Owers

  Anne Owers

  HM Chief Inspector of Prisons having previously been director of the human rights organisation Justice.

  25 What are prisons for?

• Adam Phillips

  Adam Phillips

  Psychoanalyst and writer

  7 Are you a prisoner of yourself

• Mark Ravenhill

  Mark Ravenhill

  Playwright

  18 Yesterday an incident occurred.

• Eleanor Rees

  Eleanor Rees

  Writer

  3 Yesterday an incident occurred.

• Albie Sachs

  Albie Sachs

  Justice Sachs was a leading member of the African National Congress during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He is now a member of South Africa's Constitutional Court, and has written and published widely on issues around gender, the law and human rights.

  11 Are we freer than we think?

• Dr Tom Shakespeare

  Dr Tom Shakespeare

  Dr Tom Shakespeare is a Research Fellow at The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre. He also currently holds a Fellowship from NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) through which he works on writing and performance projects, exploring stories and characters related to genetics and disability.

  30 Have we destroyed the dream of equality?

  12 Speed Dating with a Thinker

• Gwylim Simcock

  Gwylim Simcock

  Pianist and composer.

  19 Words and Music

  New Generation Artists

• Tim Smit

  Tim Smit

  Tim Smit was born in Holland on 25 September 1954. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University. Tim worked for ten years in the music industry as composer/producer in both rock music and opera. In 1987 Tim moved to Cornwall he and John Nelson together ediscoveredi and then restored the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Tim remains a Director of the gardens to the present day. He has received a variety of national awards including The Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. In 2002 he was awarded an Honorary CBE in the New Years Honours List.

  13 Inspiration in Education

• Mike Stubbs

  Mike Stubbs

  Mike Stubbs, is Director and CEO of Liverpool's Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) having previously been Head of Exhibitions at the Australian Centre for Moving Image. He is also an artist.

  29 People's Choice debate

  Listen and vote for the People's Choice debate

• Dr Sami Timimi

  Dr Sami Timimi

  Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust.

  22 Whatever happened to childhood?

• Rose Tremain. Copyright Ellen Warner

  Rose Tremain

  Rose Tremain was named by Granta as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' in 1983, and was a judge for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1988 and in 2000

  Books at Breakfast with The Reader: Rose Tremain

• Gemma Tumelty

  Gemma Tumelty

  NUS President

  1 What's the point of university?

• Tim Whitehead

  Tim Whitehead

  Saxophonist

  19 Words and Music