2025

MFI2025

Summary

The 2025 Festival offers a courageous exploration of the unspoken truths that shape our lives. Drawing inspiration from Rumi’s poignant elephant poem, we confront the complexities of free expression and belonging in a world where some topics remain shrouded in silence. Like the blind men in Rumi’s tale, each of us touches only a fragment of the whole truth, but through open dialogue, artistic expression, and shared experiences, we strive to uncover the entirety of the elephant. This festival serves as a safe space for individuals to shed light on taboo subjects, challenge societal norms, and foster understanding and empathy. By embracing uncomfortable conversations and embracing diverse perspectives, we are invited to dismantle barriers, cultivate connection, and celebrate the transformative power of authentic expression. We hear from speakers about factors influencing a sense of belonging (politics, history, freedom of speech, human rights, . . .), some sharing their ideas together in conversation and debate.

Programme

07
March (Friday)

Cosmic Adventures and Curious Minds: Exploring Science and Imagination with Christopher Edge

09:30
- 10:30
Coach House Theatre
Best-selling author, Christopher Edge, gives a high energy, interactive presentation about his books with quizzes, props, fun facts, and demonstrations of some of the real-life science behind the stories.

Cosmic Adventures and Curious Minds: Exploring Science and Imagination with Christopher Edge

11:30
- 12:30
Coach House Theatre
Best-selling author, Christopher Edge, gives a high energy, interactive presentation about his books with quizzes, props, fun facts, and demonstrations of some of the real-life science behind the stories.

Cosmic Adventures and Curious Minds: Exploring Science and Imagination with Christopher Edge

14:00
- 15:00
Coach House Theatre
Best-selling author, Christopher Edge, gives a high energy, interactive presentation about his books with quizzes, props, fun facts, and demonstrations of some of the real-life science behind the stories.

Divine Might

19:30
- 21:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
We are pleased to welcome acclaimed author, classicist and comedian, Natalie Haynes, for an electrifying one-woman show. Full of fire, fury and devotion, Natalie Haynes brings the divine women of Olympus kicking and screaming into the modern age.
08
March (Saturday)

The AI Revolution: How it happened and what it means

10:00
- 11:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Artificial Intelligence has gone viral. ChatGPT, the world’s first mass-market general-purpose AI tool acquired 100 million users in a few weeks? But why did a technology 70 years in the making finally take off? And what does it all mean – should we be excited, afraid, or both?

Drawing in the Jungle

10:00
- 11:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Headshot photo of Will Hughes
Writer and illustrator, Will Hughes takes you deep into the jungle to create your own illustrated story in this workshop suitable for all ages.

Elephant in the Art Room

11:00
- 12:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Headshot photo of Rosemary Webb
Teacher and Active Peace Educator, Rosemary Webb, leads an art and craft session on an elephant theme.

The Only Way is Up

11:30
- 12:30
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Combining the latest data with expert analysis across health, children's services, the economy, environment, policing and defence, Polly Toynbee and David Walker tell the story of what has gone wrong and what must now be remedied.

Not Irrelephant

12:00
- 13:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Headshot photo of Rosemary Webb
A gaming and learning session with Rosemary Webb about one the most intelligent animals in the world

The future ain’t what it Used to be

14:00
- 15:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Mark Lewney delivers his amazing physics show – it’s about futurism and the physics of predicting the future, in which Uncertainty plays a starring role.

Human Rights: The Case for the Defence

14:00
- 15:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
On International Women’s Day, join two feminist icons, Baroness Hale of Richmond and Baroness Chakrabarti as they discuss justice, rights and free speech.

Spectral Strokes: Unveiling the World of The Sad Ghost Club

15:30
- 16:30
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Join graphic novelist and creator of the Sad Ghost Club, Lize Meddings, for a minifold zine workshop with a comic focus. Be creative and learn about The Sad Ghost Club.

Who do you REALLY think you are?

15:30
- 16:30
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Join geneticist and broadcaster, Adam Rutherford, as he takes his genetics shears and history axe, and pollard, prune and chop down some of the (genealogy, family and evolution) trees we take for granted, and plants much better ones.

Monstrous Anger of the Guns

17:00
- 18:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
We are delighted to welcome Jeremy Corbyn to the Festival for a very special session on the global arms trade. Join Jeremy Corbyn, Founder of the Peace and Justice Project, which aims to bring people together for social and economic justice, peace and human rights.

History and the History Wars

19:30
- 21:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Image credit: Karen Robinson
In this Saturday evening session, Professor David Olusoga examines the causes of the ‘history wars’ and asks where they might lead us.
09
March (Sunday)

Embodying Pride, Cultivating Protest

09:30
- 10:30
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Senthorun Raj explores the different ways lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex, queer, and asexual people around the world are building communities to protest legal exclusions, social violence, and hostile politics.

Making Disability Funny

11:00
- 12:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Sara Gibbs and Elsa Williams discuss writing about disability and making comedy from disability!

X Marks the Spot

12:15
- 13:15
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Uncovering the physical remains of our past is a quintessential human itch; the pursuit of every society from the ancients through to today. Join Michael Scott as he traces the evolution of modern archaeology from colonial expeditions to today's cutting-edge digs.

Capitalism, Democracy, and “Bullshit”

14:00
- 15:00
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Join Sam Fowles and Jennifer Nadel—the barrister who beat the Prime Minister in court and the award-winning Journalist and campaigner for parliamentary reform—as they peel back the layers of deception. Together, they illuminate the path toward safeguarding our democratic ideals.

On Voice and the Feeling of Truth

15:30
- 16:30
Malvern St James Girls’ School
Join novelist, poet and playwright, Owen Sheers, as he concludes our weekend with readings and conversation around his attempts to move beyond a partial truth through engaging with ideas of hybridity, lyricism and voice.

Speakers

Discover this year’s theme

Details of this year’s venues, speakers and programme are released on our homepage as they are agreed.