Life, Death, Love and War

Homer's epic poem The Iliad creates a thematic through line in this year's Festival, from Michael Tippett’s three-act opera King Priam (see King Priam Classical Music) to the first ever staged reading of Alice Oswald's Homeric tribute Memorial (see Memorial Theatre). To set these events in context and to draw together other Festival themes – of myth and storytelling, of voyaging and returning – writer and journalist Charlotte Higgins has assembled an expert panel. Joining her is Tim Whitmarsh, professor of classics at the University of Oxford; and Matthew Fox, professor of classics at the University of Glasgow. Together they sort the Trojans from the Thracians as they help unpick The Iliad and The Odyssey.