2. The Festival of Ideas is a partnership between the University of York, York Theatre Royal, York St John, The National Centre for Early Music, York Minster and York Museums Trust

3. The Festival explores a series of intriguing links between past and present, showcasing contemporary ideas, arts and culture, and brings these ideas into conversation with the heritage of the city to reveal new and exciting stories about York, Britain and the world.

4. This summer sees the first York Festival of Ideas featuring a treasure trove of talks, exhibitions, theatre and music.

5. Highlights: Readings by Nobel Laureate, J M Coetzee and Booker prize-winner, John Banville It’s A Mad World, My Masters, a comic satire by Thomas Middleton William Etty: Art and Controversy, a major exhibition of his work First Love and The End by Samuel Beckett The 400 th anniversary of the King James Bible Anthony Minghella’s Two Planks and a Passion

6. We hope our first programme will inspire a new understanding of the power of ideas and the intellectual dynamism of the city of York.

7. Our aim is to develop the York Festival of Ideas into an annual international festival that will support positioning York as a city of ideas and innovation