For centuries, the bound volume held an esteemed and seemingly invincible place in our culture. In the digital age, however, nothing about the status of books, or even their survival as physical objects, is certain. How should we understand the present moment, suspended between the print culture of old and the digital future? What lessons might the past hold for thinking about current concerns and options? Does digitization herald the end of the book or a new beginning (or neither)?
This event, which is free to attend and will be chaired by Lord Melvyn Bragg, will gather leading figures from academia, business, and the arts to debate these questions and more. The debate will be the centrepiece of a larger Debating the Book programme: two-plus weeks of talks, exhibitions and other events taking place in and around Leeds, Sheffield and York in October 2015 under the auspices of the White Rose Consortium
Speakers include
James Daunt: Managing Director, Waterstones.
Linda Grant: Orange Prize-winning author of I Murdered My Library and many other works.
Dr Bridgette Wessels: (Sheffield) a leading expert in the sociology of digital communication in the arts and the public sphere.
Prof. Brian Cummings: (York) distinguished historian of the book, whose 2012 Clarendon Lectures were on “bibliophobia.”
Dr James Mussel: (Leeds) Victorian literature expert and Director of the Leeds Centre for the Comparative History of Print
Dr Stella Butler, University Librarian (Leeds) recently served as Chair of the Board of Research Libraries UK and is a trustee of the National Centre for Children’s Books, among many other accomplishments.
Tickets available here
This debate forms part of a series of events around the Future of the Book, you can see a full programme here
Debating the Book Programme, 3-27 October
This Debate is part of our Universities’ wider Debating the Book project, a series of interesting events happening around Leeds York and Sheffield in partnership with the Ilkely Literature Festival
Full Details Here
