Speakers

Anthony Seldon

Sir Anthony Seldon is an educator, historian, writer and commentator. He's a director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Chair of the National Archives Trust.

He is author or editor of over forty books on contemporary history, politics and education, including The Impossible Office?, May at 10 and The Path of Peace.

Sessions

Azariah France-Williams

Fr. Azariah France-Williams is Rector of Ascension Church Hulme, which is a member of the HeartEdge Network. He is a broadcaster with BBC Radio who contributes to Pause for Thought as well as the Daily Service.

Azariah is the author of Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England, published by SCM Press. Azariah is a Visiting Scholar with Sarum College in Salisbury. Azariah co-hosts the podcast (G)race with Revd Winnie Varghese, an Episcopalian priest serving in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sessions

Brian Draper

Brian Draper is co-author with Howard Green of Soulful Nature: A Spiritual Field Guide (Canterbury Press, 2020), Soulfulness: Deepening the Mindful Life (Hodder Faith, 2018), Less is More: Spirituality for Busy Lives (Lion Hudson, 2012) and (among others) Spiritual Intelligence: A New Way of Being (Lion Hudson 2009).

He’s a regular on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, works with organisations to nurture ‘soulful leadership’ (often using labyrinths), and loves to lead walking retreats. Clare Balding joined him for her Radio 4 Ramblings programme, and said that ‘A walk with Brian helps you see and hear more clearly, feel with a warmer heart and be a part of nature rather than just an observer.’

Sessions

Catherine Fox

Catherine Fox is Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Her debut novel, Angels and Men, was a Sunday Times Pick of the Year and the first in the Lindchester Chronicles, Acts and Omissions, was chosen as a Guardian Book of 2014. Catherine is married to the Bishop of Sheffield and is a judo black belt.

Sessions

Clemence Schultze

Dr Clemence Schultze lectured on Roman history, historiography and classical reception at Queen’s University Belfast and Durham University, and has been Chair of both the Barbara Pym Society and the Charlotte M. Yonge Fellowship.

She is the co-editor, with Clare Walker Gore and Julia Courtney, of Charlotte Mary Yonge: Writing the Victorian Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), a collection of essays about Yonge’s novels, life-writing and journalism and the context of social, cultural and religious upheaval in the nineteenth century.

Sessions

Colin Heber-Percy

Colin Heber-Percy is an Anglican priest, writer and screenwriter, living and working in the rural north east of Salisbury Diocese. His films and works for television have won many awards and are shown all over the world.

He has written numerous articles on faith and film, the philosophy and theology of cinema. His book, Perfect in Weakness, on the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, is widely acclaimed.

Tales of a Country Parish, his account of life and parish ministry during lockdown, was published in Spring 2022 to outstanding reviews and became an instant bestseller.

Sessions

Emma Wells

Dr Emma J. Wells is an award-winning church and architectural historian, author, and broadcaster. Now a principal historic buildings consultant, Emma was formerly Lecturer in Ecclesiastical and Architectural History at the University of York. She is a regular contributor to television and radio and writes for publications such as Church Times, Catholic Herald, BBC Countryfile, TLS, BBC History, and History Today.

Her first book, Pilgrim Routes of the British Isles, was published by Hale in 2016. Heaven on Earth: The Lives & Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals was published by Head of Zeus in 2022.

Sessions

Francis Spufford

Francis Spufford is the author of Unapologetic, shortlisted for the Michael Ramsey Prize, and the literary bestseller Golden Hill.

His most recent book is Light Perpetual. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and is married to a Canon of Ely Cathedral.

Sessions

Gaia Vince

Gaia Vince is a journalist, writer and broadcaster, and an honorary senior research fellow at UCL. She writes for publications including the Observer and Guardian, and presents programmes on BBC R4.

She is the author of the groundbreaking work Adventures In The Anthropocene for which she spent 2.5 years travelling to over 50 countries to map the ways humans are changing the planet forever. She draws off this and other first hand experience of the state of the planet in Nomad Century.

Sessions

Guli Francis-Dehqani

Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani is the Bishop of Chelmsford. She worked as a religion producer for the BBC before training for the ministry from 1995 to 1998. She is vice-president of the Conference of European Churches, and vice chair of the Church Army. 

Her first book, Cries for a Lost Homeland: Reflections on Jesus' sayings from the cross, was published in 2021.

Sessions

James Gilchrist

Recognised as ‘the finest Evangelist of his generation’, James Gilchrist is one of the UK’s leading tenors, whose extensive repertoire embraces works spanning many centuries. He is an enthusiastic and prolific exponent of lieder and enjoys nothing better than putting together interesting and challenging recital programmes. His impressive discography includes the Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel, Schubert and Schumann song cycles, Finzi, Bach and Britten.

Full biography

Sessions

James Runcie

James Runcie is an award-winning film-maker, playwright and literary curator. He is the author of twelve novels that have been translated into twelve languages, including the seven books in the Grantchester Mysteries series.

He is the author of The Great Passion.

Sessions

Jay Hulme

Jay Hulme is an award winning transgender poet, performer, speaker and educator from Leicester.

Alongside his writing he teaches poetry, works to raise awareness of LGBT rights and inclusion, and performs sensitivity reads on manuscripts. He is currently Poet in Residence at ‘The Poets’ Church’, St Giles’ in the Fields.

His poetry collection The Backwater Sermons is published by Canterbury Press.

Sessions

Jo Browning Wroe

Jo Browning Wroe grew up in a crematorium in Birmingham. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and teaches at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education on their Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing.

Her debut novel, A Terrible Kindness, was a Sunday Times bestseller shortlisted for the Bridport Peggy Chapman-Andrews award, and longlisted for the Prix du Roman Fnac. She has two adult daughters and lives with her husband in Cambridge.

Sessions

Mark Clavier

Mark Clavier is Canon Theologian in Swansea and Brecon Diocese and Vicar of St Mary’s, Brecon. He has served in parishes in both America, England, and Wales, and has also spent five years as a lecturer in theology at Cardiff and Oxford.

He is the author of a number of books on the theology of delight, the challenge of consumerism, and Augustine. His most recent book A Pilgrimage of Paradoxes is an award-winning theological reflection on place and belonging based on an overnight walk on Cadair Idris.

Sessions

Mark Oakley

The Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley is Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, and the author of several books on the relationship between poetry and belief.

His book The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry won the Michael Ramsey Prize in 2019. His latest books are By Way of the Heart: the Seasons of Faith and My Sour Sweet Days: George Herbert's Poems through Lent.

Sessions

Papagena

Papagena is an a cappella vocal group set up to explore the wealth of music from medieval times to the present day written specifically for female voices. No props, microphones or gimmicks, just five stunning voices. The singers are all classically trained and include amongst their number a conductor, saxophonist, composer, opera and oratorio soloists. 

The group’s programming defies pigeonholing; Papagena juxtaposes classical repertoire with traditional folk, medieval and contemporary music to create programmes that can span nine centuries, from 12th century abbess Hildegard of Bingen to Joni Mitchell, from Byzantine hymns and lilting Celtic ballads to Norwegian lullabies, from Purcell to Katy Perry.

papagena.co.uk

Sessions

Peter Stanford

Peter Stanford is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster. His investigations into the history, theology and cultural significance of religious ideas include Angels: A Visible and Invisible History and Pilgrimage: Journeys of Meaning.

He is a former editor of the Catholic Herald, and writes for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles, and The Tablet. He is director of the Longford Trust for prison reform.

Sessions

Rachel Mann

Rachel Mann is a poet, priest, novelist and critic based in Manchester. She is author of twelve books, including the critically-acclaimed Fierce Imaginings and A Kingdom of Love.

She is Visiting Fellow at the Manchester Writing School and Visiting Scholar at Sarum College. She holds a PhD on Nineteenth Century Women’s Poetry and the Bible and edited Carcanet’s Christina Rossetti: New Selected Poems.

She is currently completing a Canterbury Press Lent book based on the writings of Jane Austen, as well as a new poetry collection, due to be published by Carcanet in early 2024.

Sessions

Renie Chow Choy

Dr Renie Chow Choy works at St Paul's Cathedral as Community Engagement Manager for historic collections. She is also Associate Lecturer of Church History at Westcott House in Cambridge, and was previously Lecturer of Church History at St Mellitus College.

She is the author of Ancestral Feeling: Postcolonial Thoughts on Western Christian Heritage (SCM) and a research monograph on early medieval monasticism entitled Intercessory Prayer and the Monastic Ideal in the Time of the Carolingian Reforms (Oxford University Press).

Dr Choy recently led a participatory heritage project on London’s iconic churches, and sits on several committees responsible for the conservation and interpretation of the Church of England’s historic buildings.

Sessions

Rowan Williams

Rowan Williams is the former Archbishop of Canterbury and was the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, a position from which he retired in 2020. He was also Lady Margaret Professor at Oxford.

Williams is a contributing writer for the New Statesman and the author of dozens of books including Looking East in Winter, The Way of St Benedict, and Being Human.

Sessions

Sally Welch

Sally Welch is the author of several books, including Walking the Labyrinth and Journey to Contentment. She is an experienced pilgrim of many years, and is interested in the relationship between pilgrimage spirituality and everyday life.

She is currently developing a network of shorter pilgrim routes in the Cotswolds. She lectures and leads workshops on pilgrimage and labyrinth and is the Editor of New Daylight Bible reading notes.

Sessions

Sam Wells

Sam Wells is one of today’s most influential public theologians. He writes, speaks, preaches and broadcasts on a range of pastoral, political and theological issues.

Sam has been Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, London, since 2012. He is also Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College London. He has served as a parish priest for 25 years – 10 of those in urban priority areas; he also spent 7 years in North Carolina, where he was Dean of Duke University Chapel. He has published 44 books.

His latest books include Humbler Faith, Bigger God and Finding Abundance in Scarcity. 

Sessions

Stephen Cottrell

Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York. He is a member of the Church of England’s Committee for Minority Ethnic Concerns, and Chair of Church Army, an Anglican society for evangelism and social outreach. He is a member of the House of Lords. He is a well-known writer and speaker on evangelism, spirituality and catechesis.

He is married to Rebecca who is a potter. They have three sons, one grandson and a dog.

His books include Kingdom Calling, and Do Nothing to Change Your Life. His latest is Dear England: Finding Hope, Taking Heart and Changing the World.

Sessions

Suzannah Lipscomb

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is an award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Roehampton, Senior Member of Common Room at St Cross College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, and a columnist for History Today. She has written and edited seven books, presented numerous history documentary series on the BBC, ITV, Channel Five, etc. and is the host of Not Just the Tudors podcast from History Hit. She received a double First, MSt, and DPhil in History from Lincoln and Balliol Colleges, Oxford.

Her books include The Voices of Nimes and A Visitor's Companion to Tudor England.

Sessions