Contributor(s): Dr Ethan Ilzetzki | This talk discusses what is known about the effects of austerity and fiscal stimulus on economic activity. Ethan Ilzetzki is an economics lecturer at LSE. His research focuses on the effects of fiscal policy and the role of politics in shaping fiscal policy.

Contributor(s): Richard Bronk, Professor Roger Kneebone, Dr Felicity Mellor | This panel discussion will examine the role of metaphors in scientific thinking and in the presentation of science. It will ask whether the use of metaphors leads to unnecessary distortions in analysis or is instead an essential part of scientific thinking. Do we need to deconstruct the hidden metaphors in scientific analysis in order to uncover hidden frames? Or should we see metaphorical thinking as a major tool in scientific discovery and in the presentation of scientific findings? Richard Bronk is visiting fellow in the European Institute at LSE. With a degree in Classics and Philosophy and seventeen years experience in financial markets, Richard has been at LSE since 2000. He is author of The Romantic Economist: Imagination in Economics (Cambridge University Press, 2009) which explores the role of metaphors, imagination and language in economics. Roger Kneebone (@ProfKneebone) is a professor in the department of surgery and medicine at Imperial College London and Engagement Fellow of the Wellcome Trust. Trained as a trauma surgeon and with experience as a GP, Roger has since 2003 worked on innovative training and simulation techniques for surgery. His recent research has focused on the synergies between science and the arts and on encouraging public engagement with science. Felicity Mellor is senior lecturer in the Science Communication Unit at Imperial College London. With a PhD in theoretical physics and experience lecturing in astronomy, Felicity now does research on the interface between science and the public, and on the role of narrative in science. Daniel Glaser (@bnglaser) is director of the Science Gallery at Kings College, London. With degrees in English Literature, cognitive science and neurobiology, he has worked for more than a decade at the interface between science and the arts, first at the ICA and then with multiple audiences and national media. This event forms part of LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2014, taking place from Monday 24 February - Saturday 1 March 2014, with the theme 'Reflections'.

Contributor(s): Professor Mabel Berezin | This lecture will explore the effect on the crisis and EU institutional action on public opinion, in particular the dynamics between the former and the growth of illiberal nationalism. Mabel Berezin is department chair and associate professor at Cornell University.

Contributor(s): Vernal Scott | Vernal Scott, author of the new autobiography, God’s Other Children - A London Memoir, will look back at the impact of HIV and AIDS during the height of the challenge in the 80s and 90s. Vernal Scott is an out Christian gay dad, diversity and human rights consultant and HIV/AIDS activist with over twenty-five years of experience working on the full range of equality/diversity characteristics. Carolyn Solomon-Pryce is equality and diversity manager at LSE. This event forms part of LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2014, taking place from Monday 24 February - Saturday 1 March 2014, with the theme 'Reflections'.

Contributor(s): Richard Ormond, Rachel Wagstaff | The First World War is arguably the first major conflict to have been waged after the advent of mass levels of literacy with the Education Act of 1870. While literature produced by combatants in the Napoleonic, Crimean and Boer wars is relatively modest in volume, there is a veritable plethora, especially of poetry, from 1914-1918. By contrast dramatic and prose responses to the Great War largely came somewhat later, and, with the exception of Ford’s Parade’s End (1922-1927), were most commonly in the form of non-fictional memoirs, such as those of Graves and Sassoon. The image created through words also forms an instructive contrast with the work of leading visual artists of the day, perhaps most notably Sargent’s iconic Gassed, and Nash’s scenes of the trenches. More recently still, there has been a major resurgence of literary interest in the First World War, now benefiting from hindsight, and revealing aspects of the fighting which went undepicted during the lifetime of the survivors. This panel will discuss the differing imperatives of the historian and the creative artist in response to the First World War. Richard Ormond is an art historian, co-author of the John Singer Sargent Catalogue Raisonné, and former director of the National Maritime Museum. Rachel Wagstaff is author of the play The Soldier, and adapter of Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong for the West End stage. This event forms part of LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2014, taking place from Monday 24 February - Saturday 1 March 2014, with the theme 'Reflections'.

Contributor(s): Dr Lina Khatib | Qatar has established a reputation for adopting a foreign policy based on pragmatism. However, the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East has recently witnessed a number of key changes that are recalibrating the distribution of power in the region. Are those changes testing Qatar's pragmatism? Is the Middle East witnessing the birth of a new political order?

Contributor(s): Alice Arnold, Charlie Condou, Evan Davis, Stella Duffy, Claire Harvey, QBoy | For many lesbian, gay and bisexual people, coming out to family and friends can be a frightening moment in their lives. Our panel of well-known figures will add their own coming out stories to a collective narrative which hopes to make the coming out experience a positive one for future generations. These stories and others are featured in Alison Stokes’ edited collection It’s OK to be Gay. Alice Arnold (@alicearnold1) studied politics at university before going on to drama school. She was in the BBC radio drama company and performed in over 400 radio plays as well as television and stage work. She then became an announcer and newsreader for BBC Radio 4. Since 2012 Alice has been a freelance writer for Telewonderwoman, and Good Housekeeping. She regularly reviews the papers for BBC and Sky news. She gave evidence to the Equal marriage select committee and regularly writes on equality issues. She has been a campaigner for equality for as long as she can remember and has been in a civil partnership for 7 years. Charlie Condou (@Charliecondou) is an actor, and can currently be seen on Coronation Street playing Marcus Dent. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian called 'The Three of Us'. Evan Davis (@EvanHD) is a presenter of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, a role he took up in April 2008. He is also well-known as the presenter of the BBC2 business reality show, Dragons Den. And on Radio 4, he also presents a weekly business discussion programme, The Bottom Line. For the six and a half years prior to working on the Today programme he was the Economics Editor of the BBC, the most senior economics reporter in the corporation. In the last year, Evan has won numerous awards including the Political Studies Association broadcaster of the Year. Stella Duffy (@stellduffy) has written thirteen novels, fifty short stories, and ten plays. The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness were both long listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and she has twice won Stonewall Writer of the Year. She won the 2002 Crime Writers’ Association Short Story Dagger for Martha Grace and again in 2013 for Come Away With Me. She adapted her novel State of Happiness for feature film with Zentropa/Fiesta and HBO have optioned her novels Theodora, Actress, Empress, Whore and The Purple Shroud for a TV mini-series. In addition to her writing work, Stella is also a theatre director, artistic director of Shaky Isles Theatre, associate artist with Improbable, and is currently heading the Fun Palaces project, a nationwide celebration of the arts and sciences in October 2014. She blogs at www.stelladuffy.wordpress.com. Claire Harvey (@harveyvolley) is assistant director of the Youth Sport Trust, an independent charity devoted to changing young people's lives through sport. She captained the London2012 GB women's sitting volleyball team.awarded 'Hero of the Year' at the 2013 European Diversity Awards. Qboy (@QBoyMusic) was the UK's first openly gay hip-hop artist and has become synonymous with all things 'gay rap' since his debut 2004 E.P. Even The Women Like Him. Now he is the promoter and DJ behind hit London parties R & She and Gully at Vogue Fabrics and Put It In Your Mouth at Dalston Superstore. He is a regular floor-filler at Hoxton's East Bloc and is a well loved performer and DJ on the international stage. The official DJ for Hello Kitty brand Pynkiss during Milan Fashion Week, he also supported Boy George LIVE, and helped generations of young gay teens with his Channel 4 documentary Coming Out To Class. Shelley Silas (@shelleysilas) writes for radio, theatre and TV. Her radio plays include a co-adaptation of Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet and the award-winning I am Emma Humphreys. She has written several short stories and compiled and edited the anthology, Twelve Days. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the LSE for 2013-2014.

Contributor(s): Rohan Silva | To mark the completion of the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, the first brand new building on campus for more than 40 years, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the LSE Students’ Union have organised a series of ‘in conversation’ events with some of the School's distinguished alumni. These events will take place in the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre and will be open to LSE students, alumni and staff. This event will see Rohan Silva in conversation with Garrick Hileman @garrickhileman. Rohan Silva is entrepreneur in residence at Index Ventures and a research affiliate at MIT. Rohan is also a policy fellow at Cambridge University and serves on the Boards of Trustees at the Whitechapel Art Gallery and the London Contemporary Music Festival. He is a former senior policy adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron. Rohan is an alumnus of LSE, having graduated with a MSc in Government. Garrick is best known as an expert on Bitcoin and alternative currencies. He is a PhD candidate in the Economic History department at LSE. Prior to returning to academia Garrick worked for over 15 years in the private sector with both start-ups and established companies such as Bank of America, The Home Depot, IDG, and Allianz. In 2013 he was LSE Entrepreneur of the Year. After the conversation there will be the opportunity for the audience to put their questions to the speaker in the Q&A session. A free drinks reception will follow the event giving the audience a chance to meet the speaker.

Contributor(s): Melvyn Bragg, Dr Andrea Capstick, Professor Justine Schneider | Dementia “continues to be surrounded by fear and stigma … Nearly half of UK adults acknowledge that public understanding of dementia is limited, and 73 percent of them do not believe society is geared up to deal with the condition” according to the Department of Health, who also say a key step involves “raising public understanding and challenging attitudes which may inhibit people with dementia living life to the full”. This panel discussion will explore ways of understanding dementia and dementia care through art and literature, including theatre, participatory videos and the novel with insights from research and personal experiences. The quotation in our title is taken from Shakespeare's King Lear. Melvyn Bragg is an award-winning author and broadcaster. His latest novel is Grace and Mary. His first novel, For Want of a Nail, was published in 1965 and since then his novels have included The Hired Man, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award, Without A City Wall, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Credo, The Maid of Buttermere and The Soldier's Return, which was published to huge critical acclaim in 1999 and won the WHSmith Literary Award. He has also written several works of non-fiction including Speak for England, an oral history of the twentieth century, Rich, a biography of Richard Burton, On Giants' Shoulders, a history of science based on his BBC radio series, The Adventure of English, 12 Books that Changed the World, In Our Time and The Southbank Show: Final Cut. He is president of the National Campaign for the Arts, and in 1998 he was made a life peer. He won an Academy Fellowship at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010. Andrea Capstick is lecturer in dementia studies at the University of Bradford. She has been a member of Bradford Dementia Group (BDG) since 1994, and became the inaugural leader of the UK’s first BSc (Hons) in Dementia Studies.She holds a Doctorate in Education (EdD) for her work on the use of film and narrative biography in teaching dementia studies, and has published on a variety of subjects including service user involvement in dementia care education; arts based approaches to teaching and learning, and the ethics of visual research. In 2009 she conducted a pilot of the use of Participatory Video (PV) with people with dementia, and has recently been awarded funding by the National Institute for Health Research’s School for Social Care Research to extend the use of PV to people living in long-term social care. Justine Schneider is professor of mental health and social care at the University of Nottingham. Before moving to Nottingham in 2004, Justine was a senior lecturer in the Centre for Applied Social Studies at the University of Durham and a non-executive director, County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust. Justine has extensive experience in many aspects of applied health research using a wide range of methodologies and approaches. She has particular expertise in mental health service evaluation, carers, care homes, costs and supported employment. Her current work focuses primarily on dementia and staff development, and she is exploring innovative approaches to knowledge exchange in dementia care. Martin Knapp is professor of Social Policy at LSE and director of the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU). This event forms part of the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2014, taking place from Monday 24 February - Saturday 1 March 2014, with the theme 'Reflections'.

Contributor(s): Stephen Fender, Patrick Flanery, Maggie Gee, Professor John Sutherland | This panel will celebrate the 75th anniversary of John Steinbeck’s Great Depression novel The Grapes of Wrath discussing its legacy and asking, given the contemporary social and political climate, where’s the wrath now? Stephen Fender was born in San Francisco. As a teenager he worked alongside Okies on ranches in the San Joaquin Valley, and has never forgot their gritty sense of humour and their inventive use of the English language. He holds degrees from Stanford, Wales and the University of Manchester, and has taught at the University of Santa Clara, Williams and Dartmouth Colleges, the University of Edinburgh, University College London and the University of Sussex, where he was professor and chair of American studies from 1985 to 2001. His books include a study of the rhetoric of the California gold rush, called Plotting the Golden West (1982) and Sea Changes: British Emigration and American Literature (1992). His most recent book, Nature Class and New Deal Literature (2011), about how the American country poor got treated in the novels, documentary photographs and bureaucratic prose of the New Deal liberals, includes a long chapter on Steinbeck. He is now Honorary Professor of English at University College London. Patrick Flanery (@PFlaneryAuthor) was born in California in 1975 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He studied Film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and earned a PhD in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Oxford. He contributes articles to a number of academic journals and he has written for Slightly Foxed, the Daily Telegraph and The Times Literary Supplement. His first novel, Absolution (Atlantic Books), was published to critical acclaim in 2012 and his second Fallen Land in 2013. Maggie Gee (@maggiegeewriter) has written twelve novels, including The White Family, shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the International Impac Prize, The Ice People (revised edition 2008), and two linked satires about Britain and Uganda, My Cleaner and My Driver (2009). She has also written an acclaimed writer’s memoir, My Animal Life and a collection of short stories, The Blue.

 Maggie is vice president of the Royal Society of Literature and was its first female chair of council, 2004-2008. Her books have been translated into 13 languages including Chinese, and she is professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University. Her new novel, Virginia Woolf in Manhattan, is a comedy that brings Virginia Woolf back to life in the 21st century in Manhattan and Istanbul. Professor John Sutherland is Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor at UCL. He has taught at Edinburgh University, the California Institute of Education and UCL. His many books include Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives and Jumbo: The Unauthorised Biography of a Victorian Sensation. He is well known as a journalist and reviewer and was the chair of the Man Booker Prize committee in 2005. Michael Caines is an editor at the Times Literary Supplement. This event forms part of LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2014, taking place from Monday 24 February - Saturday 1 March 2014, with the theme 'Reflections'.