The Festival of Debate is an annual politics festival in England which takes place between May and June across South Yorkshire, but mostly focused in Sheffield. Founded in 2015, [1] organisers say its aim is to "bring people together to share new ideas and lived experience that can help shape our understanding of the world." [2] It is the largest non-partisan politics festival in the UK. [3]
Previous guests have included former leaders of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn [3] and Ed Miliband, [4] writer Afua Hirsch, [5] feminist author Gloria Steinem, [3] civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti, [3] former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, [4] author and broadcaster Sathnam Sanghera, [6] environmental journalist George Monbiot, [5] composer Brian Eno [2] and writer Armando Iannucci. [3]
The festival was founded in 2015 in the lead-up to that year's UK general election. [1] It is hosted by Opus Independents, a Sheffield-based "not-for-profit independent social enterprise organisation working in culture, politics and the arts". [1] Organisers said the initial aim of the festival was to "engage an increasingly apathetic population with politics". [7]
| Date | Number of events | Notable speakers | Partners and sponsors | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | David Blunkett, Matthew Parris [8] | |||
| 2016 | Jonathan Bartley [9] | |||
| 2017 [10] | Paul Blomfield, [11] Peter Tatchell [12] | |||
| 2018 (18 April – 29 June) [7] | More than 75 [4] | Ed Miliband, Ruby Tandoh, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Francesca Martinez, Yanis Varoufakis, [4] [13] Lowkey, [14] Natalie Bennett, Helen Pankhurst [7] | ||
| 2019 (19 April to 1 June) [1] | More than 60 [5] | George Monbiot, Ash Sarkar, Roger McGough, Afua Hirsch, Shahmir Sanni, James O'Brien, [5] Paul Mason, The Guilty Feminist [1] | The University of Sheffield, Museums Sheffield and Sheffield Theatres [1] | After appearing at the 2019 Festival of Debate, James O'Brien said: "A former EDL member said my show saved his life" [15] |
| 2021 (May and June) | Over 40 [6] | Yanis Varoufakis, David Lammy, Maya Goodfellow, Sathnam Sanghera, John McDonnell, Natalie Bennett, David Blunkett, Peter Geoghegan [6] | ||
| 2022 (19 April – 31 May) [16] | 60 events [3] | Jeremy Corbyn, Armando Iannucci, Shon Faye, Gloria Steinem, Shami Chakrabarti, [3] Led by Donkeys, David Wengrow, Ece Temelkuran, [16] Magid Magid [17] | ||
| 2023 (12 April – 26 May) | More than 60 [2] | Gary Younge, Brian Eno, General Levy [2] | ||
| 2024 (16 April – 25 May) | More than 60 [18] | Hollie McNish, Sathnam Sanghera, James O'Brien, Grace Blakeley, Marianna Spring, Sir Michael Marmot, Jackie Kay, George Monbiot, [18] [19] Terrence Higgins Trust [20] | At the 2024 festival, Sathnam Sanghera predicted that the OBE would be renamed the 'Order of British Excellence' "within five years" [21] Sir Michael Marmot said that London's financial power is masking the UK's status as a "poor country" [22] | |
| 2025 (22 April – 30 May) | Kate Raworth, Lanre Bakare, Shon Faye, Jason Hickel, John Harris, Joycelyn Longdon | 2025 will be the tenth year of the festival, and organisers say it will focus on "systemic change and alternative futures" [23] |