Tickets £10. "Jane Austen said that ‘the person, be it gentleman or lady, who has no pleasure in a novel must be intolerably stupid’. But is knowledge of the fundamentals of science more important in the age of climate change and cloning? For the motion: Richard Fortey, palaeontologist and author ... (more)of Dry Store Room No.1: The Secret History of the Natural History Museum; Georgina Ferry, science writer and author of Max Perutz And The Secret Life. Against the motion: John Mullan, Professor of English at UCL, journalist and author of Anonymity: A Secret History of English Literature; Tracy Chevalier, novelist - The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Burning Bright – and Chair of the Society of Authors. Chairperson: Joan Bakewell, Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts, is a pioneering journalist, cultural commentator and author. The audience decides the outcome by casting a vote. "

The group will discuss Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier.