5x15

Fiona Shaw is an Irish actress and director, and one of the most recognised performers of her generation. A star of both stage and screen, she has numerous film credits, including diverse roles in My Left Foot (1989), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990) and a turn as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter series, to name but a few. She has worked extensively with the National Theatre, and received several awards for her work on stage, including three Laurence Olivier awards for best actress. Recent award winning television performances include Carolyn Martens in Killing Eve. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Luke Harding is a Guardian foreign correspondent who has reported from Delhi, Berlin and Moscow and covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. His books include Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia's Remaking of the West and Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House. Collusion was a #1 New York Times best-seller. The Kremlin expelled Harding from Russia in 2011 while working as a reporter in the country. He has written five other books including A Very Expensive Poison, about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, and Mafia State about his work in Russia as a reporter and becoming an enemy of the Kremlin. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Colin Grant is the author of Homecoming (2019); Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey (2008), I and I: The Natural Mystics Marley, Tosh and Wailer (2011), Bageye at the Wheel (2012). Homecoming draws on over a hundred first-hand interviews, archival recordings and memoirs by the women and men who came to Britain from the West Indies between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. In their own words, we witness the transition from the optimism of the first post-war arrivals to the race riots of the late 1950s. Homecoming is an unforgettable portrait of a generation, which brilliantly illuminates an essential and much-misunderstood chapter of our history. Colin Grant is an author and teaches creative non-fiction writing, most recently for Arvon and Sierra Nevada College. Grant is also a historian, Associate Fellow in the Centre for Caribbean Studies and producer for BBC Radio. He joined the BBC in 1991, and has worked as a TV script editor and radio producer of arts and science programmes on radio 4

Reshma Saujani is the daughter of immigrant parents and a Yale Law school graduate. She became the first Indian-American woman to run for Congress, in what was touted as a hotly-contested race, where she was endorsed by the New York Observer and the Daily News and featured on the cover of the New York Times and the Washington Post. She then lost spectacularly, picked herself up and went on to found Girls Who Code, a non-profit organisation which aims to close the gender gap in technology and has so far taught 100,000 girls to code. Reshma’s new book Brave, Not Perfect, looks at the ways that boys and girls are raised and argues women and girls should embrace imperfection and bravery. Recorded live at the Tabernacle in London's Notting Hill on 11th March 2019. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com

Kate Mosse is the author of nine novels & short story collections, including the No 1 multimillion selling Languedoc Trilogy - Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel - and No 1 bestselling Gothic fiction including The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist's Daughter, which she is currently adapting for the stage. Her books have been translated into 38 languages and published in more than 40 countries. She has also written three works of non-fiction, four plays, contributed essays and introductions to classic novels and collections. A champion of women's creativity, Kate is the Founder Director of the Women's Prize for Fiction - the largest annual celebration of women's writing in the world - and sits on the Executive Committee of Women of the World. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to literature and women and was named Woman of the Year for her service to the arts in the Everywoman Awards. She is a regular guest on book & arts shows on radio and television. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to t

David Olusoga lives in Bristol and is a British-Nigerian historian, broadcaster and film-maker. Born in Lagos, Nigeria he studied history and journalism in the UK. He’s a multi award-winning documentary maker and is the presenter of the BBC 2 Series “The World’s War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire”, and “Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners”. He also presented a major landmark series for the BBC “Black and British” and is author of an accompanying book. David is an award winning author. His first book was “The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism”. “The World’s War: Forgotten Soldiers of the Empire” was the winner of the World War One Book of the Year at the Political Book Awards 2015. In May 2020 he also published A House Through Time. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Recorded at 5x15 in Bristol in 2015. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15s

Benjamin Moser was born in Houston. He is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2009. For his work bringing Clarice Lispector to international prominence, he received Brazil’s first State Prize for Cultural Diplomacy. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017, and his latest book, Sontag: Her Life and Work, won the Pulitzer Prize. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

In A Thousand Ships, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes retells the story of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective, for fans of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker. This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of all of them. . . The devastating consequences of the fall of Troy stretch from Mount Olympus to Mount Ida, from the citadel of Troy to the distant Greek islands, and across oceans and sky in between. These are the stories of the women embroiled in that legendary war and its terrible aftermath, as well as the feud and the fatal decisions that started it all. . . Powerfully told from an all-female perspective, A Thousand Ships gives voices to the women, girls and goddesses who, for so long, have been silent. 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.

Neil Gaiman in conversation with Rosie Boycott. Neil Gaiman is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Neverwhere, American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the Sandman series of graphic novels. Neil Gaiman is credited with being one of the creators of modern comics, as well as an author whose work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. He is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. In conversation with Rosie Boycott, he'll be talking about the unconfined power of the imagination and fiction's limitless possibilities. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Roger Robinson is a writer who has performed worldwide. He is the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2019 and RSL Ondaatje Prize 2020. He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the Black-British writing canon. His latest collection ‘A Portable Paradise’ was a New Statesman book of the year. He is an alumnus of The Complete Works and was shortlisted for The OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, The Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, commended by the Forward Poetry Prize and is currently shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2020. He has received commissions from The National Trust, London Open House, BBC, The National Portrait Gallery, V&A, INIVA, MK Gallery and Theatre Royal Stratford East where he also was an associate artist. He is an experienced workshop leader and has toured extensively with the British Council. His workshops have been part of a shortlist for the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries and were also a part of the Webby Award-winning Barbican’s Can I Have A Word. He is co

Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, anthologist, aphorist, and playwright. He has also written film scripts. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Parwana Fayyaz was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is currently working towards a Ph.D. on the medieval Persian poet Jami at Trinity College, Cambridge. She is a poet and would like to stay in academia. She recently won Best Single Poem at the Forward Prizes 2019 for her poem ‘Forty Names’, which draws inspiration from both narrative and lyrical medieval Persian traditions, and brings to life a story that Fayyaz heard from her parents when she was a child. ‘It is about a mountain called kohi chehal dokhtaran, “the forty girls’ mountain”. My poem tries to re-narrate the story by giving the forty women their names, a lamp and their colourful scarves.’ Recorded live at The Tabernacle in London on 18th November 2019. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagr

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for 30 years and is the author of eight books. Her most recent book is The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think, forthcoming from Penguin Press in May 2020. Jennifer is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including an NEA Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Institute Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her work aims to explain and interpret science for a lay audience and to explore the riddle of humanity’s place in the natural world, blending scientific knowledge with imaginative vision. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Recorded at our second online 5x15 via Zoom on 18th May 2020. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15sto

Patrick Barkham is the natural history writer for the Guardian. He is the author of the books The Butterfly Isles, Badgerlands, Coastlines, Islander and Wild Child. He has been interviewed on Radio 4 and Radio 2 and has written for a wide range of media outlets, as well as co-editing the ‘People’s Manifesto for Wildlife’ with Chris Packham and Robert Macfarlane. He lives in Norfolk with his family. Recorded at our second online 5x15 in May 2020. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

For more than thirty years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds. He is the author of the multiple New York Times best sellers, including How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013), Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006) and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001). In his latest audiobook Caffeine: How caffeine created the modern world, Michal Pollan offers his provocative look into the profound ways that what we eat affects how we live. Caffeine, it turns out, has changed the course of human history: Pollan’s reporting explores how caffeine has won and lost wars, changed politics, and dominated economies. T

George Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner. His best-selling books include Feral: Rewilding the land, sea and human life and Heat: how to stop the planet burning; his latest is Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis. George cowrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan; and has made a number of viral videos. One of them, adapted from his 2013 TED talk, How Wolves Change Rivers, has been viewed on YouTube over 40m times. Another, on Natural Climate Solutions, that he co-presented with Greta Thunberg, has been watched over 50m times. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. This talk was recorded at the second online 5x15 in May 2020. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Recorded at the 5x15 zoom online event on 20th April, 2020. This wonderful talk by Jonathan Drori contained pictures of trees. We listed the names of the trees mentioned in his presentation slides below and we hope this would help you follow his talk better, enjoy! 00:44:00 Dieffenbachia/ Dumb Cane (US) 01:49:00 Opium Poppy 02:53:00 Wax Palm (Colombia), Quiver tree (Namibia), Banyan Tree, Dragon Tree (Socotra), Baobab tree (Madagascar) 03:31:00 Coastal Redwood, (other trees shown in slides: Swam Gump, Douglas Fir) 06:03:00 Pachypodium (Madagascar), Oak Trees 06:38:00 Cherry laurel, Manchineel, Caffeine 07:32:00 Kauri Tree (New Zealand) 09:43:00 (Example shown in slide: Delonix Regia) 11:54:00 Coconut 12:33:00 Coco De Mer 10:15:00 Durian flower Ravenala/ Traveller’s palm (Madagascar), Raffed Lemur (animal) 15:14:00 Cedar of Lebanon 16:09:00 Quiver tree (The national tree of Namibia) Jonathan Drori is a Trustee of The Eden Project and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and on the Board of Cambridge Universi

Recorded from the first online 5x15 event on April 20th 2020. James Naughtie, special correspondent for BBC News, is one of the country's best-known broadcasters. He presented Today on Radio 4 for 21 years, and has reported for the BBC from around the world for more than three decades. Alongside his journalism he has wide cultural interests, and has written and produced many documentaries on music and books, and presented concerts from across Europe for radio and television. On Radio 4, he has hosted every edition of Bookclub since it began in 1998. James has been travelling in America since the 1970s - witnessing many of the important events that have shaped the country as it is today. On the Road is an account of his experiences, the places and people he has encountered, and the changes he has seen. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.c

Recorded at the first online 5x15 event on April 20th 2020. Hadley Freeman grew up in New York City and London. She has been a staff writer at the Guardian since 2000 and has contributed to many other publications, including Vogue (US and UK.) House of Glass is her fourth book. She lives in London with her partner and their three children. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Recorded at the very first online 5x15 event on April 20th 2020. One Two Three Four is Craig Brown's latest brilliant book. It's a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the break-up of the Beatles. Craig Brown is the author of 18 books, and a prolific journalist. He has been writing his parodic diary in Private Eye since 1989. He is the only person ever to have won three different Press Awards – for best humorist, columnist and critic – in the same year. He has been a columnist for, among others, The Guardian, The Times, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph. He currently writes for The Daily Mail and the The Mail on Sunday. His book, Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret won an international bestseller and won the James Tait Black Memorial Award, the South Bank Sky Arts Literature Award. 5x15 brings together five outsta