Stylist Live, London
Unashamedly bourgeois yet entirely gratis, Stylist is the magazine that’s kept British commuters on trend since 2009. Its scribes have one eye on Alexa Chung’s Instagram and another on the Man Booker shortlist, pondering life on Mars one minute and debating whether Mars bars are déclassé the next. This four-day festival is its biggest outing to date and is sure to appeal to millennials, yummy mummies and plenty of folk in between. The programme ranges from celebs-in-conversation fare, with the likes of Nigella Lawson and Salman Rushdie, to the more interactive Learning Labs, which include a masterclass with author Laura Barnett, an introduction to coding, and a meditation workshop. Cultural highlights include a debate on feminism chaired by Radio 1’s Gemma Cairney and a talk from North Korean human rights activist Yeonmi Park.
Business Design Centre, N1, Thu to 18 Oct
HJD
Manchester literature festival
Celebrating its 10th birthday, MLF presents a roster of British writers responsible for smash-hit books of enduring appeal, from Louis de Bernières (23 Oct) to Jeanette Winterson (Tue) and Joanne Harris (19 Oct). Yet looming large over proceedings is an actual woman of the canon: North And South author Elizabeth Gaskell, whose work controversially chronicled working-class existence in Victorian Manchester. There are talking tours of the city structured around her life and times (via foot on Tue, and coach 18 Oct, the latter also taking in relevant parts of Cheshire); while screenwriter Andrew Davies (20 Oct) will discuss his 1999 Beeb adaptation of Gaskell’s Wives And Daughters (published exactly a century and a half ago, the year she also died) – a miniseries so massive it prompted a period-drama ratings war christened the “battle of the bonnets”.
Various venues, Mon to 25 Oct
RA
What The Fuck Are British Values?, London
It was one of the last government’s odder and arguably more sinister initiatives. Since 2014, schools have been required to promote “British values”. It’s a banal phrase, which seems vague to the point of meaninglessness, making it all the more slippery. What comes under this vast yet particular umbrella? The Monarchy? Democracy? The rule of law? Aren’t all these concepts underpinned by ideas that are contested, mediated and innately up for debate? Journalist Kieran Yates is concerned by the possibility that this notional enforced unity can also be seen as a way of policing dissent, particularly from black and minority ethnic communities. It’s a fascinating issue and a discussion that should be of interest to anyone troubled by the concept of culture being curated rather than developing organically.
Logan Hall, SOAS, WC1, Wed
PH
