Speaker
,Author
Joanna Kavenna
Winner of the Orange First Novel prize for Inglorious.
Winner of the Orange First Novel prize, Joanna Kavenna’s works include A Field Guide to Reality, The Ice Museum and Inglorious. Her journalism has appeared in the London Review of Books, The Guardian, and the New York Times.
Winner of the Orange First Novel prize, Joanna Kavenna’s works include A Field Guide to Reality, The Ice Museum and Inglorious. Her journalism has appeared in the London Review of Books, The Guardian, and the New York Times.
Joanna Kavenna Videos
In Search Of Ourselves
Is self-discovery a desirable and vital goal?
The phantom of the present
On grasping the present
The End of the Theory of Everything
Can we fully describe reality?
Sartre vs Baldwin: The unknown other
Can we only know ourselves?
The Word and the World
What are the limits of language?
Joanna Kavenna Articles
More Videos
Beyond the Machine
Metaphors of the body
The Key to Creativity
Do restrictions breed inventiveness?
Truth and the Universe
What are the limits of science?
The Prejudice of Facts
Are there no facts, only interpretations?
Fantasies and Lies
Are myths dangerous?
The New Romantics
Beyond Reality
What are the limits of our understanding?
The Dance of Time
Is the present an illusion?
True to Myself
Morality, virtues & consequences
Visions of Apocalypse
Is the end always nigh?
A Field Guide to Reality
Overcoming the tyranny of realism in literature
Live Fast, Die Young
Should we take more risks?
Awake in the Universe
Art's ability to raise us from slumbers
Paradise City
Can we build better metropoles?
Error, Lies and Adventure Part 2
The Famine and the Feast
Why are we obsessed with food scarcity?
How To Change the World
Arts power to pack political clout is clear. But is this a reduction of great art?
The phantom of the present
On grasping the present
Taking leave of reason
Is rationality as vital as we thought?
Metaphysics, morality and mayhem
Which theories should we prioritise?
Dangerous desires
Must we adopt a new attitude to social drugs?
Your true self
Is the idea of an authentic self a fundamental mistake?
The world that disappeared
Can we be sure there is a physical reality?
Creativity and freedom
Should there be limits on creative freedom?
The trauma of everyday
Have mundane setbacks become catastrophic?
Naming and shaming
Do we need shame for social progress?
Moral facts and moral fantasy
Is our search for an objective morality misguided?
The True and the Trivial
Can comedy convey profound ideas?
Language, animals and us
The uniqueness of human language
Tyranny of the pen
Is the age of the pen over?
The good and the evil
Can we make ultimate moral judgements?
Metropolis Untamed
Tech giants on collision course with democracy
The unsayable
Can language adequately capture reality?
Sartre vs Baldwin: The unknown other
Can we only know ourselves?
The happiness delusion
In search of the aim of life
The return of the Colosseum
The morality of salacious entertainment
Trash, trends and the transcendent
Has culture lost sight of the sublime?