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Bodies: 2 -- A day of best-selling authors with a medical twist, poets, artists & good food

Updated: Nov 17

'I leave this day re-vitalised about medicine and life' (Bodies, 2023)


TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE HERE


Following on from the success of Bodies (2023), it gives us great pleasure to announce Bodies: 2. This year sees another distinguished line-up of speakers and panelists:


(Dear Life, Breathtaking - now a major TV Drama, The Story of a Heart)


(Coasting -- on running away from your problems.)


(performed by Melina Theo)


(The Shock of the Fall, This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health, Co-Director of the Research Centre for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Creativity)


(Bristol Poet)


(Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery, Admissions, And Finally, pioneer of awake craniotomy techniques and neurosurgery in Ukraine)


(Critical: Stories from the Front Line of Intensive Care Medicine, One Medicine: What Animals Can Teach Us)


(writer of Zip, a grungy comic about imperfect (Bristol) superhumans)


(The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth About Healthy Eating, The Truth About Fat, Ending Hunger: The Quest to Feed the World Without Destroying It),



The day is aimed at the general public, health professionals and all of us who have been, or will be, patients.



Structure of the day


The event is divided into two parts: a day and an evening. It takes place in the Wills Memorial Building, in both the Reception Room and the Great Hall.


The day will run from 10:00 to 17:15 and will consist of a series of talks and panel discussions from the speakers, and poems from Bristol Poet, Kat Lyons.


Nathan Filer will discuss mental health. Matt Morgan will be talking about how understanding animals may save human lives, and Andy Flack (Centre of Environmental Humanities, University of Bristol) will be asking him how that relationship might further our concerns about the environment. Mike Scrase will tell us about Zip, a comic set in Bristol about imperfect superhumans. Anthony Warner, The Angry Chef will talk about ways to feed ourselves well, without harming the world. Benji Waterhouse will reflect on a psychiatrist's life. Melina Theo will give her Every Brilliant Thing, drama's antidote to depression, to round off the day with a celebration of the little things in life.


There will also be exhibits from local artists, and showcases of some current medical humanities research projects, such as Flourishing Spaces, the Good Grief Festival, and Humanizing CTGs. Lunch and pastries are provided by iconic Bristol eateries, Farro and Little Bagel Co. Books will be available for purchase from Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft.


After a short break, the evening will run from 18:30 to 20:00. (There are many restaurants near by: Browns is next door.)


Rachel Clarke and Henry Marsh will be the speakers. Rachel will be discussing her latest novel, The Story of a Heart. This is about organ donation - a medical marvel which allows events of great grief to one family to also be a lifesaving gift for another. Henry will be speaking about hospital architecture, and its relationship to healing, under the title - 'Why Are Hospitals So Horrible?'



This event is supported by: Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences, University of Bristol; Bristol Medical School; The Department of English, University of Bristol; Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research at the University of Bristol; Royal College of General Practitioners; the Centre for Health, Humanities and Science, University of Bristol.

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