Edward Burtynsky is known as one of the most respected photographers and filmmakers in Canada. His remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes explore the collective impact we as a species are having on the surface of the planet. As The Anthropocene Project, his new multidisciplinary body of work in collaboration with Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal opens across venues in his home country, Burtynsky returns to London to discuss his art, films and research. To discuss the dramatic impact that human activity now causes Earth’s ecosystems, Burtynsky is joined by Gaia Vince, award-winning journalist journalist, broadcaster and author specialising in science, the environment and social issues. Organised in collaboration with The Photographers’ Gallery. Read more.

An unmissable evening with acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore celebrating the greatest letters in history. In this talk Simon will select some of the letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion – whether passion, rage, humour – from ancient times to the twentieth century: some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal and coarse. From love letters to declarations of war, ranging from Elizabeth I to Stalin, Seneca to Machiavelli, Oscar Wilde to Balzac, Rameses the Great to Gandhi, Montefiore will explore the significance of the pieces of correspondence selected and show how letters can reveal the personalities of some of history’s most fascinating figures, and in turn offer a unique perspective on the past and a relevance for today. Read more.

An unmissable set-to between Adam Zamoyski and Andrew Roberts. ‘What a novel my life has been!’ exclaimed Napoleon – but he wrote much of it himself.  A masterful and shameless manipulator of myths, he created a narrative that still inspires passionate and conflicting responses.Was he a military genius, Romantic superhero, demigod, the incarnation of historical destiny, a divine avatar? Was he a compulsive warmonger, tyrant, megalomaniac, a monstrous psychopath, or just a nasty little Corsican hood? All of these things at certain times, Napoleon was none of these things all of the time. He was a mortal, whose destiny was human as well as historical. He displayed immortal qualities at certain moments, yet presided over the most infamous and avoidable disaster in military history, singlehandedly destroying the great enterprise he and others had toiled to construct. Nor was he a monster: he could be selfish and violent, but had no wish to inflict gratuitous suffering. His motives were mostly laudable, his ambition no worse than that of contemporaries such as Alexander I of Russia or Wellington, Nelson or Metternich. What made him exceptional? Adam Zamoyski will strip away the lacquer of prejudice and set Napoleon in the evolving context of his times: a young man in the 1790s entering a world at war, whose successes would embroil him in a struggle for supremacy and survival against European leaders spurred by self-interest and the lust for power. He will try to explain how Napoleone Buonaparte, the boy from Corsica, became ‘Napoleon’; how he achieved what he did, how he undid it, how it undid him. Rather than glorify or condemn, let us seek to understand Napoleon’s extraordinary trajectory – from the inside. Was he Great? Was he small? Watch Adam Zamoyski and Andrew Roberts have it out.   Read more.

A revealing talk by Michael Peppiatt, the art historian, biographer and great friend of Francis Bacon which will bring Britain’s greatest twentieth-century painter vividly back to life, both as an artist and as a man. Peppiatt will describe how, as a student, he first met Bacon in a Soho pub in 1963 and how their legendary friendship evolved until Bacon’s death thirty years later. He will trace the painter’s extraordinary career, from a lonely boyhood in rural Ireland to being acknowledged as ‘the greatest living painter’ who dominated the international art world with his fearsome, enigmatic images that, even today, still shock by their intensity. Alongside his turbulent life, Bacon’s most important and influential paintings will be discussed in depth. After the talk, signed copies of Francis Bacon in Your Blood, Peppiatt’s exhilarating memoir about his friendship with the artist, will be available. Read more.

This talk by The Times columnist, Philip Collins, based on his new book Start Again, is for anyone who feels that politics no longer speaks for them.Tracing the fault lines in our current, fractured political landscape Philip Collins will offer a roadmap to a different political future: proposing new answers to the urgent questions facing us today – questions of education, of work, of health, of housing, of security, and of inequality. Join us for this unmissable talk on how we can achieve a better future. Read more.

Join global education activist, human rights campaigner and teacher Ziauddin Yousafzai and his daughter, the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Malala, for this one-off global launch event for the publication of Ziauddin’s extraordinary memoir Let Her Fly. In this rare live appearance, Malala and Ziauddin will explore his passionate campaigning for girls’ education, their work for the Malala fund and Ziauddin’s lifelong fight for equality – proving there are many faces of feminism. Let Her Fly is a poignant and optimistic portrait of parenthood and modern feminism, by a father determined to raise his daughter and sons in an equal world. Personal in its detail and universal in its themes, this is a landmark book from the man behind the phenomenon, and provides an essential new perspective on why we must keep fighting for the rights of girls and women everywhere. In Association with Fane Productions and Penguin. Ticket info: Seating is unallocated. The event will start at 7pm, with doors opening at 6pm. Security checks will be in place and we would advise you to arrive early to allow for these. A copy of Let Her Fly is included in the ticket price. Please collect this from the venue on the night. Read more.

Named by the Guinness Book of Records as ‘the world’s greatest living explorer’, Sir Ranulph Fiennes has spent his life in pursuit of extreme adventure, risking life and limb in some of the most ambitious private expeditions ever undertaken. Amongst his many record-breaking achievements, he was the first to reach both Poles, the first to cross the Antarctic and Arctic Ocean, and the first to circumnavigate the world along its polar axis. In Living Dangerously, Sir Ranulph offers a personal journey through his life, from his early years to the present day. Both light-hearted and strikingly poignant, Living Dangerously spans Sir Ranulph’s childhood and school misdemeanours, his army life and early expeditions, right through the Transglobe Expedition to his current Global Reach Challenge – his goal to become the first person in the world to cross both polar ice caps and climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ many endeavours have pushed his endurance levels to the very limits, inspiring generations and making him a pioneer of exploration with an unparalleled story to tell. Read more.