10-26 May
Become a Friend5x15: Bodies
with Rachel Clarke, Gavin Francis, Jack Hartnell, Suzanne O'Sullivan and Aarathi Prasad
In Association with Writers’ Centre Norwich
Five speakers, 15 minutes each to blow your mind. A quick-fire exploration of the mysteries of our bodies and brains, from medical conditions so strange they leave doctors baffled to mental illness and the art of body modification.
Click here to see the full City of Literature Weekend programme
Important information
Assisted performances: 
BSL interpreted
Duration: c. 1.5 hours
Gavin Francis
TED – Adventures in Being Human
Suzanne O'Sullivan
5×15 – The reality of imaginary illness
Rachel Clarke
Rachel Clarke is a doctor who specialises in palliative care. Before retraining as a doctor, she worked as a television journalist, producing and directing current affairs documentaries. Rachel was at the forefront of the media campaign against the government when they sought to impose a new contract for junior doctors, arguing that imposition would irrevocably damage the NHS.
Gavin Francis
Gavin Francis is a GP, and the author of True North and Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins, which won the Scottish Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize and Costa Prize. He also writes for the Guardian, the Times, London Review of Books and Granta.
Jack Hartnell
Jack Hartnell is Lecturer in Art History at University of East Anglia. He has previously held positions at Columbia University, the Courtauld Institute, the Max-Planck-Institut and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
Suzanne O’Sullivan
Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan works as a consultant in clinical neurophysiology and neurology at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and for a specialist unit based at the Epilepsy Society. She specialises in the investigation of complex epilepsy and has an active interest in psychogenic disorders. Suzanne’s book about psychosomatic illness, It’s All in Your Head, won the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.
Aarathi Prasad
Aarathi Prasad has presented documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. She is the author of Like A Virgin: How Science is Redesigning the Rules of Sex; and In the Bonesetter’s Waiting Room: Travels Through Indian Medicine. She currently works at University College London.
Tickets
Book four or more events at the City of Literature Weekend and save £1.50 per ticket. Join us for all events across the weekend for £90 (save £46).
Select a performance
Saturday
26 May
12:30 pm
£0.00
In association with Writers’ Centre Norwich
In association with 5×15
